Transforming Trials: Embracing Hope Through Interruptions

 

Summary

As we step into a new year, many of us carry the weight of unfulfilled resolutions and shattered expectations. We long for a strong character and unshakable hope, yet often settle for wishful thinking. The Apostle Paul, in his letter to the Romans, offers a radical perspective on our struggles, suggesting that these interruptions in our lives might be opportunities for God to work within us. We often resist interruptions, but Jesus welcomed them, seeing them as moments for God's kingdom to break into our lives.

Jesus' ministry was filled with interruptions, like the woman who touched his robe for healing. These moments were not distractions but opportunities for transformation. If we adopt a "King Jesus Vision," our trials can become triumphs. This perspective allows us to see suffering as a pathway to endurance, character, and hope. We don't celebrate suffering itself, but we can rejoice in what God is doing through it.

Our memories should not be more exciting than our dreams. If they are, it suggests we're not open to God's new work in our lives. God allows challenges to happen, and in these moments, we can choose to trust that He is up to something. This trust transforms our response to obstacles from bitterness and despair to hope and growth.

In the midst of trials, we are called to lean on God's peace and celebrate the hope we have in Him. This hope is not wishful thinking but is grounded in God's promises, Christ's finished work, and is sustained by the Holy Spirit. Our journey is not about faking joy but about genuinely engaging with God's transformative work in our lives.

As we partake in communion, we remember that Jesus gave us Himself, not just a message. He is magnetically attracted to our brokenness and desires to lead us through suffering. May we open our hearts to His presence, allowing Him to transform our trials into triumphs.

Key Takeaways:

1. Embrace Interruptions as Opportunities: Jesus welcomed interruptions, seeing them as opportunities for God's kingdom to break into our lives. By adopting this perspective, we can view our struggles as moments for transformation and growth. [07:58]

2. Suffering as a Pathway to Hope: Paul teaches that suffering produces endurance, character, and ultimately hope. This process transforms us into the people we desire to be, allowing us to experience God's love poured into our hearts. [09:47]

3. God's Presence in Our Trials: In our trials, God is present, working within us. By trusting in His sovereignty, we can find peace and joy, knowing that He is up to something even in our discomfort. [24:13]

4. The Role of Community in Suffering: We are not alone in our struggles. God comforts us so that we can comfort others. Our community plays a vital role in supporting each other through trials, reflecting God's love and compassion. [32:45]

5. Hope Grounded in God's Promises: Our hope is not based on changing circumstances but on God's unchanging love. This hope is secure because it is founded on Christ's life, death, and resurrection, offering us peace with God. [28:18]

Youtube Chapters:

- [00:00] - Welcome
- [01:24] - New Year Reflections
- [04:58] - Kingdom of God Breaking In
- [06:41] - Embracing Interruptions
- [07:58] - Jesus and Interruptions
- [08:37] - Trials to Triumphs
- [09:47] - Suffering Produces Hope
- [11:28] - Building Endurance
- [12:29] - Character and Hope
- [13:54] - Hospitality to Interruptions
- [15:10] - Personal Testimony
- [16:00] - Processing Grief
- [19:43] - Rejoicing in Suffering
- [21:56] - New Vision for the New Year
- [24:13] - God's Presence in Trials
- [28:18] - Hope in God's Promises
- [30:05] - God's Personal Love
- [32:45] - Community and Comfort
- [34:38] - Worldly vs. Jesus' Response
- [42:27] - Engaging in God's Work
- [44:08] - Communion and Covenant
- [47:06] - Jesus at the Door

Study Guide

Bible Study Discussion Guide

Bible Reading:
1. Romans 5:3-5
2. Mark 5:25-34
3. Psalm 56:8

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Observation Questions:

1. In Romans 5:3-5, what progression does Paul describe that leads from suffering to hope? How does this relate to the sermon’s message about viewing struggles as opportunities for growth? [09:47]

2. How did Jesus respond to the woman who touched his robe in Mark 5:25-34, and what does this tell us about His attitude towards interruptions? [07:58]

3. According to the sermon, what is the significance of having memories that are more exciting than dreams? How does this concept challenge us to be open to God's new work in our lives? [04:58]

4. How does the sermon describe the role of community in supporting each other through trials? What biblical basis is there for this idea? [32:45]

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Interpretation Questions:

1. How does the concept of "King Jesus Vision" change the way believers might perceive their trials and interruptions? What practical steps can be taken to adopt this perspective? [08:37]

2. In what ways does the sermon suggest that suffering can lead to endurance, character, and hope? How does this align with the biblical passage from Romans 5:3-5? [09:47]

3. The sermon mentions that God is present in our trials. How does this understanding affect a believer's response to suffering and challenges? [24:13]

4. What does the sermon suggest about the importance of community in the context of suffering, and how does this reflect the biblical teaching on the body of Christ? [32:45]

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Application Questions:

1. Reflect on a recent interruption in your life. How might viewing it as an opportunity for God’s work change your response to it? [07:58]

2. Consider a current challenge you are facing. How can you apply the progression from suffering to hope described in Romans 5:3-5 to your situation? [09:47]

3. Think about your community or small group. How can you actively support someone going through a trial, reflecting God’s love and compassion? [32:45]

4. Identify an area in your life where your memories are more exciting than your dreams. What steps can you take to be more open to God’s new work? [04:58]

5. How can you cultivate a "King Jesus Vision" in your daily life, especially when faced with unexpected challenges or interruptions? [08:37]

6. Reflect on a time when you felt God’s presence in a difficult situation. How did that experience shape your understanding of His love and sovereignty? [24:13]

7. What practical steps can you take this week to lean on God’s peace and celebrate the hope you have in Him, even amidst trials? [24:13]

Devotional

Day 1: Embracing Divine Interruptions
In our fast-paced lives, interruptions often feel like nuisances that derail our plans. However, Jesus demonstrated a different approach by welcoming interruptions as opportunities for God's kingdom to manifest. When the woman touched His robe seeking healing, Jesus did not see it as a distraction but as a moment for transformation. By adopting this "King Jesus Vision," we can view our struggles and interruptions as moments for growth and divine intervention. This perspective encourages us to embrace interruptions, trusting that they are opportunities for God to work within us. [07:58]

"And Jesus stopped and said, 'Call him.' And they called the blind man, saying to him, 'Take heart. Get up; he is calling you.' And throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus." (Mark 10:49-50, ESV)

Reflection: Think of a recent interruption in your life. How can you view it as an opportunity for God to work through you today?


Day 2: Suffering as a Pathway to Hope
The Apostle Paul teaches that suffering is not without purpose. It produces endurance, which in turn shapes our character and ultimately leads to hope. This process is transformative, allowing us to become the people we aspire to be. While we do not celebrate suffering itself, we can rejoice in what God is doing through it. By understanding suffering as a pathway to hope, we can experience God's love poured into our hearts, knowing that our trials are not in vain. [09:47]

"Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope." (Romans 5:3-4, ESV)

Reflection: Identify a current challenge you are facing. How can you see this as a step towards building endurance and hope in your life?


Day 3: Trusting God's Presence in Trials
In the midst of trials, it is easy to feel abandoned or overwhelmed. However, God is present, working within us even in our discomfort. By trusting in His sovereignty, we can find peace and joy, knowing that He is up to something greater than we can see. This trust transforms our response to obstacles from bitterness and despair to hope and growth. Embracing God's presence in our trials allows us to lean on His peace and celebrate the hope we have in Him. [24:13]

"Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." (Isaiah 41:10, ESV)

Reflection: In what area of your life do you need to trust God's presence more fully? How can you actively seek His peace today?


Day 4: The Role of Community in Suffering
We are not meant to face our struggles alone. God comforts us so that we can comfort others, and our community plays a vital role in supporting each other through trials. By reflecting God's love and compassion, we can be a source of strength and encouragement to those around us. Embracing the role of community in suffering allows us to experience God's love more deeply and to be His hands and feet to others in need. [32:45]

"Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ." (Galatians 6:2, ESV)

Reflection: Who in your community is currently facing a trial? How can you offer them support and comfort today?


Day 5: Hope Grounded in God's Promises
Our hope is not based on changing circumstances but on God's unchanging love. This hope is secure because it is founded on Christ's life, death, and resurrection, offering us peace with God. By grounding our hope in God's promises, we can face life's uncertainties with confidence, knowing that His love is steadfast and His promises are true. This hope is not wishful thinking but a firm assurance in God's faithfulness. [28:18]

"Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful." (Hebrews 10:23, ESV)

Reflection: What promise of God do you need to hold onto today? How can this promise shape your perspective and actions?

Quotes

"Paul, the apostle writing to the Romans, offers a perspective. I think it's kind of a radical perspective, even now, even though this is 2,000 years ago, that turns our understanding of these obstacles in our life, these sufferings that we encounter, these exposures of our weaknesses. Don't you hate it? When your weaknesses are exposed?" [00:01:39] (23 seconds)


"if you remember that you that's your response did make you angry they have a lot of power over you apparently and you don't even know them it's amazing but paul gives us a new vision a new perspective a new way to look at these interruptions in our lives maybe even maybe even be a host to the interruptions in your life so that you can see how god might be at work now i'm kind of quote -unquote preaching to the choir you have interrupted your normal weekend to come here you've you've created margin you've created space you've you've opened yourself up to god interrupting normal programming amen but why else are you here it's not is it the coffee it's not the coffee it's not the coffee it's not the coffee it's not the coffee thank you thank you debbie for making the coffee is it because it's joan's birthday is that why you're here happy birthday to joan i mean obviously that's why we're here now isn't it more that that we need his perspective we need his vision on life and so we just create a space we do it every week maybe some of you three or three times a week you know because you're at this bible study you're engaging this and you're just like i need an interruption and you're just like i need an interruption and you're just like i need an interruption and we don't like interruptions but we can choose to create space for that let's let's keep thinking about that because jesus welcomed those who interrupted him if you remember some of those stories and jesus jesus would just be like um you know these kids crawling all over him and the disciples were like leave the master alone he's like what else do you think i'm doing i'm like here for the kids like let them come let the kids come crawl all over me of course this is fine but maybe you're done growing and that's just the thing you're like you're my character is where i want it um my perseverance is where i want i just i've just i'm just complete and so jesus can just take me home now but i i think some of us get tired of growing pains and we just want to can i just be on a steady plateau right now i'm tired i'll settle for the mess i'm in i give up but the way jesus did it he he said i am preaching the kingdom of god the kingdom of god is broken and i'm not breaking it i'm not breaking it i'm not breaking it i'm not breaking it breaking in here and now" [00:02:28] (150 seconds)


"And are you the ones that want the kingdom of God breaking in? No? Okay, well, you don't have to be here. But are you, oh, these ones are the ones that want the kingdom of God breaking in, interrupting their life. And so it was the former paralytics, and it was the people that were formerly demon-possessed, and it was the people that were healed of all kinds of diseases and the poor and all that. And they said, I want the kingdom of God to break into my life. Break in. Let's go. And, you know, we talk about the kingdom of God a lot, and we're not necessarily building the kingdom of God. We're creating space for his kingdom to break in so that we can experience a little bit of God on our journey when he makes all things new." [00:04:58] (43 seconds)


"But in his way of thinking, it wasn't so much of a rush, because a woman came up and fought through the crowd, and she's ritually impure in this culture, and so you don't approach anything holy. In fact, don't touch me, because you'll do it. I imagine she walked up to him, and there was this like, growing space around her, like, don't touch me. I don't want to be ritually impure. She had been bleeding menstrually for years and years and years and years. Nothing could happen. I'm sure she's just emaciated, iron deficient, just struggling, just on her last grab, just like, Jesus, you could do this. And she just knew if she just grabbed maybe the tassel on his robe, if she could just get that close to him, and she would be healed. And she was." [00:07:09] (49 seconds)


"I'm interrupting your world, and when I can be interrupted, that's just more space for God to do something. And none of us think that way, which is a problem. Maybe some of you, I don't know. But if we had the King Jesus vision, this is the new KJV, if we had the new King Jesus vision, our trials could transform into actual triumphs. If we could just see things the way he sees them, and if we could train ourselves to want that, like, Jesus, what are you doing in this moment?" [00:08:06] (42 seconds)


"And he doesn't say, and we looked at this, he didn't say celebrate our sufferings. We'll look at this passage here. It says, not only do we have this peace of God and love of God poured out in our hearts, not only all that, but we rejoice in our sufferings knowing that suffering produces endurance and endurance produces character and character produces hope. All these things we actually want." [00:10:18] (23 seconds)


"Like my son's going to run a half marathon coming up soon. And he was, what did he say? Like yesterday, he talked to us and he's like, hey, I'm doing a 10 mile just to kind of prep. Anybody want to go on a 10 mile run? And we're just looking at him going like, are you kidding me? A 10 mile run? Who's chasing me? Like that's what I need to know." [00:11:57] (20 seconds)


"I don't know if that's exciting. But endurance then would produce character. Now this is a person who can be relied upon to endure. And this woman is someone you can go to because you know she has persisted and held the faith in the midst of all of the struggles. And then you've got the character that produces hope because your consistent faithfulness to God has then created this covenant with God and He starts to be faithful to you and His favor is upon you. And then you just experience His love poured out into our hearts. So really, if you think about it, every obstacle that stands in our way, every obstacle is an opportunity." [00:12:41] (40 seconds)


"Some of you know this, some of you don't know this. Almost two years ago, I was in a church. Two years ago, my daughter died. She's 18 years old. And in the process of being dead in the hallway in my house, the medics came. The medics started coming up the stairs. Every new person with a new red bag, they're going to try to do what they can to revive my daughter. By impulse, I was standing at a bit of a distance watching all this happen." [00:15:39] (37 seconds)


"And literally, it's praying aloud, just, Jesus, what are you doing right now? What are you doing right now? What is going on? What are you doing? What is this? How am I supposed to process this? But one success story in the middle of tragedy is, that's the way I've been thinking for years and years and years. What are you doing right now? What's up? I don't get this. I need wisdom. I don't know. I'm weak. I'm broken. What do you do? How do I participate with it? That's a super extreme example. And I don't just mean to drop it on you." [00:16:16] (42 seconds)


"Rejoicing in suffering. Wow, that's crazy. But this is the pathway to a character, an unshakable hope. Rejoicing in suffering. But this is the pathway to a character, an unshakable hope. Rejoicing in sufferings. Normal response to obstacles. frustrated plans you go into hyper control mode you operate out of bitterness resentment despair self-pity or you self-medicate or you shift blame or you focus on the discussion discomfort ask me how i know these things just maybe we can talk about that um it's just like wow okay we don't get it don't they get it but if god is on the throne and he's allowed this thing or these 400 things in the room this blockage this suffering then maybe he's got a good reason to allow it i'm gonna have to trust that he might have a an opportunity here there might be a plan he hasn't given up on me and so i can rejoice in that when israel spent all those years wandering in the desert they were being formed as a people that would bear god's name to the world and there was a this note in this book i reread this week for a pastor's book club that i'm in i got to suggest the book I've read it multiple times. It's really helpful." [00:19:43] (65 seconds)


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Transcript
What was the most surprising thing in this sermon?
Were there any personal stories shared?