Faith Anchored in God's Promises Amidst Trials
Devotional
Sermon Summary
Bible Study Guide
Sermon Clips
"As I said, we're continuing in our series about experiencing God in different ways. We started with worship, and we did a whole sermon of just worship songs, one of my favorite sermons I've ever preached. And we talked about prayer and finding space in our lives with prayer. This past week, we spoke about Scripture, and we got into the YouVersion Bible app, and a couple of us joined in a devotional this week." [00:00:06] (30 seconds)
"When we place our faith in an experiential, based on what we feel today, our faith is just going to go up and down and up and down and up and down. I think back to last year's Flower City Work Camp experience that we had. There was a night of worship that was the cry night. And I've already expressed this here at church. But it's something that just is the expression of what it is to feel the atmosphere of God." [00:02:21] (34 seconds)
"David writes oh Lord how long will you forget me forever how long will you look the other way how long must I struggle with anguish in my soul with sorrow in my heart every day how long will my enemy have the upper hand turn and answer me Oh God Oh Lord my God restore the sparkle to my eyes or I will die don't let my enemies gloat saying we have defeated him don't let them rejoice at my downfall he cries out innocent in a sense of the despair in which he is walking through and I don't know exactly where in his life he's writing these words but we know of David and we know the the strength that David had and the conquer that David had the favor that David had for David and the favor that David had from God and yet he starts out with this I am in such anguish why am I struggling so hard God" [00:04:42] (69 seconds)
"In life, we're going to experience difficulties. True? Whether it's a loss of a loved one, a parent or a sibling, or, a child. Whether it's going through a separation of relationships, of a divorce or a friend. Whether it's losing your job when you didn't expect it. Or you've lost money on investments, or health concerns, or cancer. There's going to be things that happen within our lives that are really, really difficult." [00:07:01] (39 seconds)
"But in my life's experience thus far, what I've seen is, through really hard times, were placed into the fire. And what does fire do? It refines. Through the hard times, we're refined by the struggles we go through. And we can either come out stronger or we can be destroyed. Those are really the two options. Most people are able to walk through. There are times where people are just destroyed by what their life has given to them." [00:07:41] (41 seconds)
"Joseph, as a young man, Joseph was overconfident. Joseph was overconfident. His natural self-assurance increased by being Jacob's favorite son and by knowing of God's designs on his life was unbearable to his ten older brothers, who eventually conspired against him. But the self-assurance molded by pain and combined with a personal knowledge of God allowed him to survive and prosper where most would have failed." [00:18:58] (29 seconds)
"Joseph experienced he was betrayed and deserted by his family. He was exposed to sexual temptation and punished for doing so, doing what was right. And he endured a long imprisonment and was forgotten by those he helped. As you read his story, note what Joseph did in each case. His positive responses transformed each setback into a step forward. He didn't spend much time asking why. His approach was, what shall I do now?" [00:19:44] (33 seconds)
"Through and through and through, he makes the next right step through the guidance of God. What are some practical steps in which we can take? This is where we go back to the last three weeks of sermon series. when you see that God is hard to see at this moment, continue living through Scripture. Continue reading because as we read, if I read the next psalm after Psalm 13, which would be Psalm 14, if I read the next psalm as I read through that, it says my neighbors are lying and the difficulty is all around. Things are the same as they have always been. They're hard. People are still people." [00:21:55] (55 seconds)
"But yet we can go back to Scripture and we can see that so much of what is written is relatable to today. So much of what is written is still calling out to us saying, see who God is, place your faith in God. God is constant. Even in our ups and downs. Be in Scripture when we have a hard time seeing God. This is the Word of God. Be in prayer. Speak with God. Call out. This is exactly what David did in Psalm 13." [00:22:55] (31 seconds)
"Find a way in which you can serve. What God wants us to do is to be there for the needy of God. For the needy of our community. For the widows. For the poor. And although we're there to serve other people and it is helpful to them, so often service brings healing to our own hearts. Speak with a friend. Talk out the things that are on our hearts." [00:24:41] (32 seconds)
"Sometimes in the midst of a crisis, it's really, really hard to see what God is doing. But so often you can get to the other side of difficulties and you can look back and say, I can see how God was using that. Me personally, I don't believe that God puts us through trials. I don't believe that God installs things in our lives that make us have difficulties on purpose." [00:26:22] (24 seconds)
Ask a question about this sermon
"When we place our faith in an experiential, based on what we feel today, our faith is just going to go up and down and up and down and up and down. I think back to last year's Flower City Work Camp experience that we had. There was a night of worship that was the cry night. And I've already expressed this here at church. But it's something that just is the expression of what it is to feel the atmosphere of God." [00:02:21] (34 seconds)
"David writes oh Lord how long will you forget me forever how long will you look the other way how long must I struggle with anguish in my soul with sorrow in my heart every day how long will my enemy have the upper hand turn and answer me Oh God Oh Lord my God restore the sparkle to my eyes or I will die don't let my enemies gloat saying we have defeated him don't let them rejoice at my downfall he cries out innocent in a sense of the despair in which he is walking through and I don't know exactly where in his life he's writing these words but we know of David and we know the the strength that David had and the conquer that David had the favor that David had for David and the favor that David had from God and yet he starts out with this I am in such anguish why am I struggling so hard God" [00:04:42] (69 seconds)
"In life, we're going to experience difficulties. True? Whether it's a loss of a loved one, a parent or a sibling, or, a child. Whether it's going through a separation of relationships, of a divorce or a friend. Whether it's losing your job when you didn't expect it. Or you've lost money on investments, or health concerns, or cancer. There's going to be things that happen within our lives that are really, really difficult." [00:07:01] (39 seconds)
"But in my life's experience thus far, what I've seen is, through really hard times, were placed into the fire. And what does fire do? It refines. Through the hard times, we're refined by the struggles we go through. And we can either come out stronger or we can be destroyed. Those are really the two options. Most people are able to walk through. There are times where people are just destroyed by what their life has given to them." [00:07:41] (41 seconds)
"Joseph, as a young man, Joseph was overconfident. Joseph was overconfident. His natural self-assurance increased by being Jacob's favorite son and by knowing of God's designs on his life was unbearable to his ten older brothers, who eventually conspired against him. But the self-assurance molded by pain and combined with a personal knowledge of God allowed him to survive and prosper where most would have failed." [00:18:58] (29 seconds)
"Joseph experienced he was betrayed and deserted by his family. He was exposed to sexual temptation and punished for doing so, doing what was right. And he endured a long imprisonment and was forgotten by those he helped. As you read his story, note what Joseph did in each case. His positive responses transformed each setback into a step forward. He didn't spend much time asking why. His approach was, what shall I do now?" [00:19:44] (33 seconds)
"Through and through and through, he makes the next right step through the guidance of God. What are some practical steps in which we can take? This is where we go back to the last three weeks of sermon series. when you see that God is hard to see at this moment, continue living through Scripture. Continue reading because as we read, if I read the next psalm after Psalm 13, which would be Psalm 14, if I read the next psalm as I read through that, it says my neighbors are lying and the difficulty is all around. Things are the same as they have always been. They're hard. People are still people." [00:21:55] (55 seconds)
"But yet we can go back to Scripture and we can see that so much of what is written is relatable to today. So much of what is written is still calling out to us saying, see who God is, place your faith in God. God is constant. Even in our ups and downs. Be in Scripture when we have a hard time seeing God. This is the Word of God. Be in prayer. Speak with God. Call out. This is exactly what David did in Psalm 13." [00:22:55] (31 seconds)
"Find a way in which you can serve. What God wants us to do is to be there for the needy of God. For the needy of our community. For the widows. For the poor. And although we're there to serve other people and it is helpful to them, so often service brings healing to our own hearts. Speak with a friend. Talk out the things that are on our hearts." [00:24:41] (32 seconds)
"Sometimes in the midst of a crisis, it's really, really hard to see what God is doing. But so often you can get to the other side of difficulties and you can look back and say, I can see how God was using that. Me personally, I don't believe that God puts us through trials. I don't believe that God installs things in our lives that make us have difficulties on purpose." [00:26:22] (24 seconds)
Chatbot
-
I'm an AI bot trained specifically on the sermon from Feb 02, 2025. Do you have any questions about it?