Sep 28, 2014 - Read the Story of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus in John 11. Vs. 17, âOn his arrival, Jesus found that Lazar
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When God Seems Silent When God Seems Silent
Dr. Brandon Park | September 28, 2014
We’ve all had seasons in our life when we’ve asked God for something, but He just wouldn’t do it. IIt t seems when God is silent that He is contradicting His word that says He promises to hear us. s. een… When it comes to prayer, there have been times when we’ve felt that God has been… Inattentive • Inattentive Uncooperative • Uncooperative Late • Late ______________.” We sometimes are tempted to falsely think: “If God is ____________ ____________, He m ust be ______________.” ____________, Today we’re going to examine the stories of three individuals in the New Testament who all felt like God was silent and we’re going to write down some lessons we can learn from their experiences.
I. When God Seems Silent, We Feel That He is _________________ ________________
Herod Antipas married Herodius – a woman who wanted John the Baptist to be executed because he was preaching about her sin. Read Mark 6:17-‐20. John knew that Jesus was healing people, and doing all kinds of s igns and wonders for strangers but He wasn’t doing anything for his own cousin. John was having s econd thoughts about Jesus. Matthew 11:2-‐3, “When John heard in prison heard what the Messiah was doing, he sent his disciples to ask him ‘Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?” Isn’t it interesting that when our circumstances take a sudden change, how that impacts our confidence in God. It’s important to understand that there’s something very self-‐centered about losing our faith in God when our c ircumstances go bad. When YOU go through a hard time, I ____________. When I go though a hard time, I _______________. I lose faith when God is inattentive to MY happiness, not yours. Why does that happen? Because in a season of pain, or turmoil, or when life is really difficult – we tend to shrink down to the size of us. John the Baptist’s world was now no bigger than his prison c ell and he begins to doubt. Matthew 11:4, “Jesus r eplied, “Go b ack and r eport to John what you __________ and ___________.” Jesus tells them, “You need to go back and report the activity of God that is happening outside of his prison cell.” Matthew 11:5, “The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are r aised, and the good news is proclaimed to the p oor.” Matthew 11:6, “Blessed is a nyone who does not stumble on account of me.” (vs. 6) WORD STUDY: “Stumble” = fall away, fall out, lose their faith – because of Christ’s activity or inactivity in their life. John the Baptist was going to be in prison regardless of how much faith he had. He was going to be in prison regardless of how obedient he had been. Your personal circumstances do not necessarily coincide with how God ____________ about you. Don’t make the mistake of letting your faith hinge upon what God has done for you lately. What do we do when G od is inattentive? 1. You look back and _______________________ 2. You look outside your circumstances and ___________________
II. When God Seems Silent, We Feel that He is ________________
God’s lack of cooperation is not an argument for or against His existence. (If a lack of cooperation proved that someone didn’t exist – there would be seasons of my life where I would believe my children didn’t exist!)
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Paul had been serving Christ faithfully for 20 years. However, soon after Paul became a Christ-‐ follower, he became afflicted with some sort of physical health issue. He felt like his health issue was
an obstacle to the very thing that God had called him to do. So he began to ask God to remove it, but God repeatedly told him, “No.” You might be here today and you’re tempted to think, “God doesn’t hear my prayers… God’s forgotten about me. He doesn’t even know I exist.” There is no other human man that God used more than the Apostle Paul – and yet God said to him “No.” But God promised him something else in return. 2 Corinthians 12:7b-‐9 “Therefore, in o rder to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given 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…” Grace in this c ontext is simply the ability to be able to put one foot in front of the other. It’s the ability to get up and to get through another day. Grace is a God-‐given ability to give you the energy and the strength to keep moving in the direction that God’s told you to move. Vs. 9b, “for my power is made perfect in your weakness.” We want God to leverage His glory out of our strengths and talents, not our weaknesses. God is going to showcase His _________________ in your weakness if you will learn to take “______” for an answer. His strength in your weakness is evidence of His presence in y our life. Vs. 9, “Therefore, I will b oast a ll the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” (WORD STUDY: “Rest” = dwell, take up residence upon me. Vs. 10, “That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND: 1. We have permission to ask God to remove our __________________. 2. God has ________________________ to say “No.” 3. God may choose to ________________________ His power on the stage of our weaknesses. 4. You can’t experience G od’s sustaining grace while ______________________ His will. 5. Sustaining grace begins with: “Not my will, but ________ _________ _____ _________.”
III. When God Seems Silent We Feel That He is ______________.
At some point in time, we’ve all asked this question: “Why doesn’t God do something about THAT?” Read the Story of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus in John 11 Vs. 17, “On h is arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four d ays.” Four days was important because in the ancient world, they believed that after a person’s death, their spirit would hover over the dead body for three days. And when the face began to change (rigor mortis was setting in), they believed that after 3 days the spirit would leave because there would be no hope of it ever re-‐inhabiting that body. So Jesus arrives 4 days after Lazarus’ death (to prove that even in their superstitious ways of thinking – there was no hope). Vs. 33, “When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was d eeply moved in spirit a nd troubled. Where have you laid him?” he asked. “Come and see, Lord,” they replied.” Jesus paused (knowing exactly what was about to happen and exactly how the story would end) and John says that “Jesus wept.” (John 11:35) It was as if He was saying, “I’m not too big to understand the pain that you are experiencing.” Vs. 38-‐40, “Jesus, o nce more d eeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. “Take away the stone,” he said. “But Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he h as been there four days.” Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory o f God?” Vs. 43-‐44, “When h e had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his h ands a nd feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around h is face. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes a nd let him g o.” If you continue to believe and trust in God during the silent times, you will eventually see the glory of God.
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When God Seems Silent When God Seems Silent
Dr. Brandon Park | September 28, 2014
We’ve all had seasons in our life when we’ve asked God for something, but He just wouldn’t do it. IIt t seems when God is silent that He is contradicting His word that says He promises to hear us. s. een… When it comes to prayer, there have been times when we’ve felt that God has been… Inattentive • Inattentive Uncooperative • Uncooperative Late • Late silent absent ______________.” We sometimes are tempted to falsely think: “If God is ____________ ____________, ____________, He m ust be ______________.” Today we’re going to examine the stories of three individuals in the New Testament who all felt like God was silent and we’re going to write down some lessons we can learn from their experiences.
I. When God Seems Silent, We Feel That He is _________________ ________________ Inattentive
Herod Antipas married Herodius – a woman who wanted John the Baptist to be executed because he was preaching about her sin. Read Mark 6:17-‐20. John knew that Jesus was healing people, and doing all kinds of s igns and wonders for strangers but He wasn’t doing anything for his own cousin. John was having s econd thoughts about Jesus. Matthew 11:2-‐3, “When John heard in prison heard what the Messiah was doing, he sent his disciples to ask him ‘Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?” Isn’t it interesting that when our circumstances take a sudden change, how that impacts our confidence in God. It’s important to understand that there’s something very self-‐centered about losing our faith in God when our c ircumstances go bad. pray When YOU go through a hard time, I ____________. When I go though a hard time, I doubt _______________. I lose faith when God is inattentive to MY happiness, not yours. Why does that happen? Because in a season of pain, or turmoil, or when life is really difficult – we tend to shrink down to the size of us. John the Baptist’s world was now no bigger than his prison c ell and he begins to doubt. Matthew 11:4, “Jesus r eplied, “Go b ack and r eport to John what you __________ hear and ___________.” see Jesus tells them, “You need to go back and report the activity of God that is happening outside of his prison cell.” Matthew 11:5, “The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are r aised, and the good news is proclaimed to the p oor.” Matthew 11:6, “Blessed is a nyone who does not stumble on account of me.” (vs. 6) WORD STUDY: “Stumble” = fall away, fall out, lose their faith – because of Christ’s activity or inactivity in their life. John the Baptist was going to be in prison regardless of how much faith he had. He was going to be in prison regardless of how obedient he had been. feel Your personal circumstances do not necessarily coincide with how God ____________ about you. Don’t make the mistake of letting your faith hinge upon what God has done for you lately. What do we do when G od is inattentive? remember 1. You look back and _______________________ reflect 2. You look outside your circumstances and ___________________
II. When God Seems Silent, We Feel that He is ________________ Uncooperative
God’s lack of cooperation is not an argument for or against His existence. (If a lack of cooperation proved that someone didn’t exist – there would be seasons of my life where I would believe my children didn’t exist!)
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Paul had been serving Christ faithfully for 20 years. However, soon after Paul became a Christ-‐ follower, he became afflicted with some sort of physical health issue. He felt like his health issue was
an obstacle to the very thing that God had called him to do. So he began to ask God to remove it, but God repeatedly told him, “No.” You might be here today and you’re tempted to think, “God doesn’t hear my prayers… God’s forgotten about me. He doesn’t even know I exist.” There is no other human man that God used more than the Apostle Paul – and yet God said to him “No.” But God promised him something else in return. 2 Corinthians 12:7b-‐9 “Therefore, in o rder to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given 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…” Grace in this c ontext is simply the ability to be able to put one foot in front of the other. It’s the ability to get up and to get through another day. Grace is a God-‐given ability to give you the energy and the strength to keep moving in the direction that God’s told you to move. Vs. 9b, “for my power is made perfect in your weakness.” We want God to leverage His glory out of our strengths and talents, not our weaknesses. God is going to showcase His _________________ in your weakness if you will learn to take strength “______” no for an answer. His strength in your weakness is evidence of His presence in your life. Vs. 9, “Therefore, I will b oast a ll the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” (WORD STUDY: “Rest” = dwell, take up residence upon me. Vs. 10, “That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND: thorns 1. We have permission to ask God to remove our __________________. 2. God has ________________________ to say “No.” permission 3. God may choose to ________________________ His power on the stage of our showcase weaknesses. 4. You can’t experience G od’s sustaining grace while ______________________ His will. resisting 5. Sustaining grace begins with: “Not my will, but ________ ____ _________.” your _________ will _be done
III. When God Seems Silent We Feel That He is ______________. Late
At some point in time, we’ve all asked this question: “Why doesn’t God do something about THAT?” Read the Story of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus in John 11 Vs. 17, “On h is arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four d ays.” Four days was important because in the ancient world, they believed that after a person’s death, their spirit would hover over the dead body for three days. And when the face began to change (rigor mortis was setting in), they believed that after 3 days the spirit would leave because there would be no hope of it ever re-‐inhabiting that body. So Jesus arrives 4 days after Lazarus’ death (to prove that even in their superstitious ways of thinking – there was no hope). Vs. 33, “When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was d eeply moved in spirit a nd troubled. Where have you laid him?” he asked. “Come and see, Lord,” they replied.” Jesus paused (knowing exactly what was about to happen and exactly how the story would end) and John says that “Jesus wept.” (John 11:35) It was as if He was saying, “I’m not too big to understand the pain that you are experiencing.” Vs. 38-‐40, “Jesus, o nce more d eeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. “Take away the stone,” he said. “But Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he h as been there four days.” Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory o f God?” Vs. 43-‐44, “When h e had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his h ands a nd feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around h is face. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes a nd let him g o.” If you continue to believe and trust in God during the silent times, you will eventually see the glory of God.
