Anchors of the Soul
1. LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A Southern California man has sued MGM Mirage for preying on his gambling addiction and inducing him to borrow and lose millions of dollars at its Las Vegas casinos.
The suit was filed on Monday in a Los Angeles U.S. District Court by Shibley Horaney, a resident of Newport Beach, California, who says that since 1995 he has lost and paid back about $4 million on credit provided to him by the MGM Grand and $1 million on credit from The Mirage casino.
In 2003, he borrowed and lost another $475,000, which the casinos are still seeking to collect.
2. The question I have is this: If this man had a gambling addiction he was trying to overcome, why did he go to Las Vegas in the first place?
3. I don’t think this man is trying to stop gambling; he is just against losing!
4. But sometimes we find ourselves in trouble through no fault of their own.
5. I wasn’t an angel in high school, but I was a pretty good kid….one day, in the cafeteria, a few of my friends were horsing around…on took an empty styrofoamm bowl that had a few mashed potatoes remaining in it and threw it at another friend…immediately a student hall monitor came by and wrote us all detention slips….he did not care that I had nothing to do with it….guilt by association…
6. Unfortunately, innocent bystanders lose their lives, a limb, or are traumatized because they are in the wrong place at the wrong time…
7. On other occasions, we bring troubles on ourselves.
8. Having pastored for over 25 years, I’ve found that my perspective about life has changed dramatically. Although I still have retained some of the optimism of youth (because I have seen God do some marvelous deeds), I have also been confronted with a simple reality: given time, everyone experiences rough eras of life, sometimes even relentlessly. You really need to master today’s message because you will need it!
Our choice is typically not whether we will experience times that shake us and drain us, but whether we will go through such times leaning upon God or experiencing them alone.
Main Idea: To weather life’s storms, we need convictions that anchor us to spiritual reality even when our minds are in disarray.
I. The Conviction that God is Out for Our GOOD Despite Appearances
A. The Scriptures Are Clear, Though the Nature of the Good Involved May VARY
1. To Israel, God promised:
Deut. 28:12-13 reads, "The LORD will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. The LORD will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the LORD your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom."
2. To Jeremiah’s generation, God promised:
Jeremiah 29:11-13 reads, "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
3. To Christians, Jesus says In John 16:33, "’I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.’"
4. Paul adds, "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."
We like good things. Perhaps that is why in the long, sad history of this planet there have been very few people who have scratched their heads over the presence of goodness. ’Why is there evil in the world? Why do bad things happen?’ These questions are asked routinely. But when was the last time you heard someone crying out, ’How can you explain the presence of excellence? Why do good things happen to people?’ Theologians and philosophers have wrestled from time immemorial with the so-called ’problem of evil,’ but the ’problem of goodness’ does not exist."
SOURCE: Scott Hoezee (Sermoncentral)
5. The truth is that God does not owe us good times…they are of His grace…
“Our circumstances are not an accurate reflection of God’s goodness. Whether life is good or bad, God’s goodness, rooted in His character, is the same.”
— Helen Grace Lescheid (Sermoncentral)
B. That Good May Be Later In THIS Life, or It May Be In Eternity
1. The case of Joseph and his brothers: God meant it for GOOD
2. The case of Job: CONSOLATION but not SATISFACTION
3. The case of Jeremiah: not REWARDED here
Illustration: an elderly man who began attending our church recently, Woody, was diagnosed with lung cancer…
II. The Conviction that God is Truly A SOVEREIGN God
1. He does not slumber or SLEEP
Isaiah 40:25-31 "To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?" says the Holy One. Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.
Why do you say, O Jacob, and complain, O Israel, "My way is hidden from the LORD; my cause is disregarded by my God"?
Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.
He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
2. Our WAYS are not hidden from the LORD
• God is present anywhere and everywhere
I once heard of a poor single mom with two rambunctious sons. These boys were always doing what they were not supposed to do. One day the poor old preacher decided to help. He had the mom bring the boys into his office and then she returned home leaving the boys with the pastor. The pastor paced the room and asked the same question over and over again. “Where is God?” “Where is God?” “Where is God?” To this the boys cut out of his office and ran all the way home non-stop. When the boys got home their mother asked, “What did the pastor say to get you boys so startled?” The eldest replied, “They have lost God and they think we stole HIM!” (Sermoncentral)
3. Our CAUSE is not disregarded by our God
Jim Elliot, a missionary slain by the Auca Indians in the 1950’s, once said, “God is still on His throne and man is still on HIS footstool. There’s only a knee’s distance in between.” (Sermoncentral)
4. He manages the DETAILS of the entire UNIVERSE and yet cares about INDIVIDUALS
• He calls every star by name
Dear Earl,
How many stars are in the Universe?
Annika and Erin, Age 9
Dear Annika and Erin,
• To answer your question, I peeped in our Astronomy and Space category, where I found a great site called Understanding The Universe. Our sun is one of about 100 billion stars in our galaxy, the Milky Way. But guess what? The Milky Way is just one of billions of galaxies that we know about! A ThinkQuest site called Astronomy For Kids claims that there are 2,000,000,000,000,000,000 stars. I’m not even sure how to say that number. (Source: yahooligans.yahoo.com/content/ask_earl/page?d=20000907)
• MATTHEW 10:30 “AND EVEN THE VERY HAIRS OF YOUR HEAD ARE ALL NUMBERED.”
III. The Conviction that PRAYER Makes A Difference
1. Prayer does not always FIX everything
Paul’s prayer in Romans
Romans 15:30-32
"I urge you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me. Pray that I may be rescued from the unbelievers in Judea and that my service in Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints there, so that by God’s will I may come to you with joy and together with you be refreshed."
2. Sometimes prayer CHANGES things
James 5:16b-18
"The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops."
3. Sometimes prayer changes US
The Psalmist In Psalm 73:16-17 "When I tried to understand all this, it was oppressive to me till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny."
4. But prayer can and does make a DIFFERENCE
James 4:2b, "You do not have, because you do not ask God."
5. Prayer procures God’s PEACE
Philippians 4:6-7, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
6. Prayer MAXIMIZES our ability to glorify God, even if it does not change cirucmstances
Luke 22:42
"’Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.’"
2 Corinthians 12:7-9 "To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.
But he said to me, ’My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me."
IV. The Conviction that Life’s Struggles Have Genuine Purpose
A. Not understanding is NOT the same as purposelessness
• You do not have to understand how integrated circuits or computer logic works to use a computer…it makes sense, but that sense may be beyond you…
B. Because WE are confused does not mean God is confused
• God has NO problem with the Book of Revelation…
C. Although it may seem God is INSANE, it is our insanity and short-sightedness is the real problem
Eccl. 9:3 “This is the evil in everything that happens under the sun: The same destiny overtakes all. The hearts of men, moreover, are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live, and afterward they join the dead.”
D. Our ambition: to GLORIFY God
Romans 15: 8-9 "For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God’s truth, to confirm the promises made to the patriarchs so that the Gentiles may glorify God for his mercy…"
I Corinthians 10:31 "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God."
CONCLUSION
1. Although it is tough hand on during trials and troubles, God is developing us through the process.
2. Parnell Bailey visited an orange grove where an irrigation pump had broken down. The season was unusually dry and some of the trees were beginning to die for lack of water. The man giving the tour then took Bailey to his own orchard where irrigation was used sparingly.
"These trees could go without rain for another 2 weeks," he said. "You see, when they were young, I frequently kept water from them. This hardship caused them to send their roots deeper into the soil in search of moisture. Now mine are the deepest-rooted trees in the area. While others are being scorched by the sun, these are finding moisture at a greater depth."
3. We do not ask for the heartaches we must bear, but God wants you to become more firmly rooted through them.
