Times and Seasons 2
Counsel for a season of striking out.
PPT 1 Series Title
Last week we began a new series on Times and Seasons and I gave 3 main points I will briefly recap them before we get into todays message.
PPT 2 Summary points
1. In order to step into a new season of life we often have to be stripped of the last.
Farmers plow under last years crop, before planting this years.
A baseball catcher cannot become a batter until he first removes his catchers uniform.
God will often take things away before He puts new things on us.
2. Comparison of your season with someone else's can kill contentment in your life.
Be content with such things as you have, comparison kills contentment!
3. The future is clear to God, and fuzzy to us. So it's best to trust the One Who knows.
Ec 7:13 Consider what God has done: Who can straighten what he has made crooked?
Ec 7:14 When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider: God has made the one as well as the other. Therefore, a man cannot discover anything about his future.
The weather service has a computer that can do 232 trillion operations a second and it cannot tell the weather a month out. God knows the end from the beginning.
Counsel for a season of striking out. Some times in life we get up to the plate and all we do is whiff at the ball. Let me show you some examples of those who swung at their season and completely missed it:
1. Be Careful not to miss your season
The opportunity of a lifetime is only good for the lifetime of the opportunity.
The Jews did twice
PPT 4-7 Scriptures
Nu 14:1 Then all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night.
Nu 14:2 And all the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron; and the whole congregation said to them, "Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness!
Nu 14:3 "And why is the LORD bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become plunder; would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?"
Nu 14:22 "Surely all the men who have seen My glory and My signs, which I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have put Me to the test these ten times and have not listened to My voice,
Nu 14:23 shall by no means see the land which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who spurned Me see it.
Nu 14:39 And when Moses spoke these words to all the sons of Israel, the people mourned greatly.
Nu 14:40 In the morning, however, they rose up early and went up to the ridge of the hill country, saying, "Here we are; we have indeed sinned, but we will go up to the place which the LORD has promised."
Nu 14:41 But Moses said, "Why then are you transgressing the commandment of the LORD, when it will not succeed?
Nu 14:42 "Do not go up, lest you be struck down before your enemies, for the LORD is not among you.
Nu 14:43 "For the Amalekites and the Canaanites will be there in front of you, and you will fall by the sword, inasmuch as you have turned back from following the LORD. And the LORD will not be with you."
Nu 14:44 But they went up heedlessly to the ridge of the hill country; neither the ark of the covenant of the LORD nor Moses left the camp.
Nu 14:45 Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down, and struck them and beat them down as far as Hormah.
So the first time they missed they failed to step into something when they were supposed to, and the second time they tried to step into something when they weren't supposed to. The exact same event on one day, it was right to do and on another it was wrong. The season had changed and the Jews kept doing the wrong thing at the right time or the right thing at the wrong time!
David did twice:
First his missed his season by not going out to battle at the time of battle:
PPT 8 scripture
1Ch 20:1 Then it happened in the spring, at the time when kings go out [to battle,] that Joab led out the army and ravaged the land of the sons of Ammon, and came and besieged Rabbah. But David stayed at Jerusalem. And Joab struck Rabbah and overthrew it.
It was in this season of missing his appointed activity that David committed adultery. We should never take lightly missing our season! Second he missed his season by going out to battle when he should have stayed home.
PPT 9 scripture
2Sa 21:15 Now when the Philistines were at war again with Israel, David went down and his servants with him; and as they fought against the Philistines, David became weary.
2Sa 21:16 Then Ishbi-benob, who was among the descendants of the giant, the weight of whose spear was three hundred [shekels] of bronze in weight, was girded with a new [sword,] and he intended to kill David.
2Sa 21:17 But Abishai the son of Zeruiah helped him, and struck the Philistine and killed him. Then the men of David swore to him, saying, "You shall not go out again with us to battle, that you may not extinguish the lamp of Israel."
David's season had changed, he was to be a light and an inspiration not the leader of the battle. David was no longer to be the warrior king, but to be an light and inspiration.
Missing your season can have very bad consequences, as David's life illustrates.
But before I move on, I want to point out how God through the Apostle Paul sums up David's life:
PPT 10
Ac 13:36 "For when David had served God's purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep; he was buried with his fathers and his body decayed.
I need to be careful when I say this, but you can miss seasons and still fulfill God's purpose for your life. Let me explain it using a baseball analogy. You can strike out several times and still win the game. Striking out doesn't mean its all over, just that at bat is over.
The best hitters in the world are also some of leaders in striking out.
Sammy Sosa had more stike outs than anyone else in baseball for 3 years in a row? 1997 - 99.
But...
In 97 he had 36 home runs, in 98 he had 66, and in 99 he had 63. In the record books of the top ten home run hitters in a season in baseball, he occupies positions 3, 5, 6.
Michaelangelo left many unfinished projects, but he was still and incredible artist.
Have you ever struck out? If you miss a season it can have serious repercussions, but you can still end life with a good grade, just don't quit. Everyone can admit that they missed what God wanted them to do at one time or another. Sometimes you can even get in a season of missing your season. That is what makes grace amazing, and that is why we sing so much about it.
2. In a season of striking out, be careful how you label your season because it will affect how you live in your season.
Don't make permanent declarations because of present conditions.
"I always mess us"
"I never get it right"
"I will never love again"
"I will never be happy again"
"Nothing is ever going to get better"
Do you really need the extra weight in a difficult season? You need a coach to pump you up, not pull you down. How different would David's story be if in 1 Samuel 30:6 it said, "David discouraged himself in the Lord," instead of "David encouraged himself in the Lord.
Too many are better at discouraging themselves than encouraging themselves.
PPT 11
Don't preside over your own funeral. In other words don't be saying negative life is over type things to yourself, even when you have missed a season.
If the devil hands you the mike to say some final words, rear up and say:
I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that....
PPT 12
And, "This too shall pass."
Numerous societies claim that saying. The Jew perhaps more than others. They have several different versions of its origin, for example:
The origin of the saying "this too shall pass" appears to date back to a story told about King Solomon. It is said that the King, feeling blue, asked his advisors to find him a ring he had seen in a dream. "When I feel satisfied I'm afraid that it won't last. And when I don't, I am afraid my sorrow will go on forever. Find me the ring that will ease my suffering." Eventually an advisor met an old jeweler who carved into a simple gold band the Hebrew inscription "gam zeh ya'avor" – "this too shall pass."
Heres another:
A sultan requesting of King Solomon a sentence that would always be true in good times or bad; Solomon responds, "This too will pass away".
It is not found in the bible, but the idea it expresses is certainly found in scripture:
PPT 13 text
1Co 10:12 Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.
2Co 4:17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding [and] eternal weight of glory;
Close: Have you been striking out? Have you missed your season? Talk to the coach:
Heb 4:16 Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need.
