INTRO.- WHO SAID THESE WORDS? “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair.” II Corinthians 4:8
ILL.- (From a news release by DeMoss News) In a summer filled with superhero movies, Americans are confusing Captain America’s messages of triumph with quotes from the Bible. The results of a survey released found 63 percent of U.S. adults incorrectly attributed 2 Corinthians 4:8 about overcoming suffering and hardships to civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr., former President George W. Bush or comic book hero Captain America rather than the Bible. Martin Luther King Jr. received the highest percentage of voters.
The survey, conducted online by Harris Interactive on behalf of American Bible Society to coincide with the tenth anniversary of the attacks of Sept. 11. And despite significant security measures taken since Sept. 11, only 9 percent of Americans feel safer today than they did prior to Sept. 11. Thirty-six percent felt safer prior to the attacks of Sept. 11 than they do today.
ILL.- Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., and author of the PURPOSE DRIVEN LIFE, has announced that his church is planning a nationwide prayer event as a memorial of the terrorist attacks on 9/11. Warren announced to his church, "On 9/11 weekend, we are going to link up with our daughter church in New York City. Ryan (Holladay, the pastor of Lower Manhattan Community Church) is going to help me with this service where is going to broadcast from Ground Zero. We’re going to have some testimonies out of our church in New York City of people who were there on 9/11."
Ryan Holladay told The Christian Post his church has always commemorated 9/11, but the 10th anniversary this year makes it very special. "It wasn’t just a national or civic tragedy; it was a spiritual tragedy, and we want to support people as they work through it. 9/11 left a spiritual vacuum behind for many people. We want to fill that vacuum with God’s love." Amen.
Every human person has a vacuum in his or her soul whether they realize it or not. Sometimes it takes a tragedy like 9/11 or a tornado or an earthquake or a hurricane or something else to make people realize their need for God. It’s a shame that it often takes tragedies to drive people to God. We have to be knocked down before we will ever look up. As long as life is good people don’t see their need for the Lord.
PROP.- In this message, I want us to look back, to look around, and to look up, because looking up is our only hope.
I. LOOKING BACK
There were a series of four coordinated suicide attacks by al-Qaeda on the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. On that morning, 19 al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four passenger jets. The hijackers intentionally crashed two planes into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, killing everyone on board and thousands of those working in the buildings. Both towers collapsed within two hours, destroying nearby buildings and damaging others.
A third plane was crashed into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. Hijackers had redirected the fourth plane toward Washington, D.C., targeting either the Capitol Building or the White House, but crashed it in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania after passengers tried to take control of the plane. There were no survivors from any of the flights.
Remember 32 year old Todd Beamer who was on that flight and who told the operator that the flight was hijacked and the pilots were on the floor dead or dying. Beamer’s last audible words were "Are you guys ready? Let’s roll."
Nearly 3,000 victims and the 19 hijackers died in the attacks.
Among the 2,753 victims who died in the attacks on the World Trade Center were 343 firefighters and 60 police officers from New York City and the Port Authority, and 8 private emergency medical technicians and paramedics. Another 184 people were killed in the attack on the Pentagon. The overwhelming majority of casualties were civilians, including nationals of over 70 countries.
Where were you on that day? What were you doing? How did it affect you when you suddenly realized what had happened? How do you feel about it today?
II. LOOKING AROUND
I think we should look around to see what is happening in our world then and now, and why it is happening. Why did 9/11 happen?
1- Some bad things happen because of God’s judgment.
ILL.- Remember the great flood as recorded in Genesis? Why did it happen? Gen. 6:5-7 “The Lord saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The Lord was grieved that he had made man on the earth and his heart was filled with pain. So the Lord said, ‘I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth...’”
And do you remember Sodom and Gomorrah? Gen. 18:20 “Then the Lord said, ‘The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin is so grievous...’”
In Gen. 18:32 God said if he could find just 10 righteous people in Sodom he would not destroy it. BUT THEY COULDN’T BE FOUND! And we know the “rest of the story.”
2- Some bad things happen to good people because we live in an imperfect world where imperfect things happen all the time.
Rom. 8:18, 19, 22 “I consider that our present sufferings are not worthy comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.... For the creation was subjected to frustration... We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.”
The Scripture seems to indicate that our world, which God created, is not perfect. We suffer in this life. The whole world is frustrated and groaning because of its imperfection.
ILL.- I walked into a bank on Thursday morning, Sept. 13th,, 2001, to cash my “perfect” IRS rebate or relief check and the cashier asked me, “How are you?” I said, “Well, I just drove over a thousand miles and put my poor mother in a nursing home and she’s not happy. And my wife is having a heart catheterization tomorrow. And the world is coming to an end, but other than that, everything is just fine.” No, obviously, everything is not fine nor perfect and it never will be. Not in America and not in our own homes nor in our own lives.
Did you ever think why everything is not perfect and never will be on planet earth? IT’S BECAUSE GOD IS TRYING TO GET US TO REALIZE THAT THERE IS A PERFECT PLACE and we need to focus on getting there! Focusing on heaven helps us to live better here and now.
3- Some bad things happen because of sin. Because of our own sin and because of the sins of others. Gal. 6:7 “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.” If we sow evil, we will reap evil.
4- And some bad things happen in our world because evil exists!
ILL.- Secretary of State in 2001, Colin Powell, was asked why anybody would do such a horrible thing to America. He said, ”Because they hate America! They hate what we have, they hate our lifestyle, etc.”
James 4:1-3 “What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.”
We live in a world of fighting and war and it’s because people are not content. People always want more and they want what other people and other countries have, and that’s why they make war.
Colin Powell was probably correct, but where does this hatred come from? Why is there this kind of hatred in our world today?
John 8:44 “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”
The devil is alive and well on planet earth! And he is at work in the lives of people all around the world. He is evil and he is a murderer and is behind all evil and murder in this world. WE MUST NOT DECEIVED ABOUT THIS!
ILL.- Again, preacher Billy Sunday of the 1930‘s said, “I know the devil is real for two reasons. Number one, because the Bible says and number two, because I’ve done business with him.”
Some people are doing big business with him and they don’t even know it!
Ephesians 6:10-12 “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in heavenly realms.”
I Peter 5:8 “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”
It should be obvious to us who are in Christ that evil exists in the world today because of the evil one called Satan, the devil. HE IS BEHIND ALL EVIL BECAUSE HE IS EVIL!
III. LOOKING UP
Why should we look up? It’s better than looking within or looking down! Looking within isn’t the answer to life’s difficulties.
Many people think they can handle everything in life. There is a point where man’s intelligence and power runs out and then he needs God.
ILL.- When the lawnmower quits working or the washing machine starts to leak we can handle these things one way or another. We either repair them or get them repaired or replaced, but what do we do when the doctor says, “you have terminal cancer?” Or when a dearly loved one passes away? What do you do then? Where do you go for help?
ILL.- Many years ago there was a young couple in Iberia, MO, who little boy about 4 or 5 years old got sick and the local doctor couldn’t do anything for him. He said they needed to take him to the University of MO Medical Center in Columbia, MO. They did but the little boy died a day or so later. He was their only child and naturally, they were devastated.
I called on them several times and spoke at the boy’s memorial service. I used the words of David in the OT when he lost his son in death.
II Samuel 12:23 “But now that he is dead, why should I go on fasting? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.”
I encouraged that young couple to seek the Lord and to give their lives to Him. Some time later they did and some day they will see their boy again!
There is a point in life where our human strength, wisdom and ability runs out.
II Corinthians 12:7-10 7 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. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 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. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
The apostle Paul had a thorn in the flesh which caused him to look up and see his need for God’s grace. And we all have thorns in the flesh, which should cause us to look up and trust in the Lord’s grace.
Romans 13:11-14 “And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave decently, as in the daytime. Rather, clothe yourself with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.”
Many people have said that what happened in New York and Washington was or should be a “wake up” call to America. Of course, most of the people who are saying this are making reference to our “less-than-perfect” security across the U.S. And to our lack of attention to terrorist activity in the world and in this country.
Personally, I think what happened in New York and Washington should be a “wake up” call for all Christians in America!
If we who claim to follow Christ would have been living a faithful and fruitful Christian life there is a good possibility that there wouldn’t be any terrorist activity in our beloved country! There would be more love and less hate! There would be more hugging and less hurting!
CONCLUSION-----------------
Psalm 23:4 “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I WILL FEAR NO EVIL.”
Psalm 27:1 “The Lord is my light and my salvation - whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life - of whom shall I be afraid?”
Psalm 46:1-2 “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear....”
ILL.- Preacher Vance Havner once told a story about an elderly lady who was greatly disturbed by her many troubles--both real and imaginary. Finally, someone in her family tactfully told her, "Grandma, we’ve done all we can for you. You’ll just have to trust God for the rest." A look of absolute despair came over her face as she replied, "Oh dear, has it come to that?" Havner commented, "It always comes to that, so we might as well begin with that!"
Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight.
Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust. In the Lord do I trust!
Steve Shepherd, Jonesboro Christian Church, AR
jonesborochristianchurch@suddenlink.net
