024901_what to do on the worst day of your life

8/10/2019 024901_What to Do on the Worst Day of Your Life

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WHAT TO DO ON THE WORST DAY OF YOUR LIFE

I have a message to pass on to you from Pastor Rick. Let me tell you how that came about.Earlier this week, Rick gave me a call and said he had gone to the doctor and found out that hehad double pneumonia. That often happens by the way, after preaching eight million Easterservices and hugging all those people. e said, so I!m going to need you to speak this weekend.This is before they found out about "atthew at the end of the week. e said, there!s somethingI!d like you to speak on. There!s this little book I!ve been reading and I!d like you to talk to thechurch about this book, the points that are in this book. The name of the book is ow to #urvivethe $orst %ay of &our Life.

$e have a pastor with a certain kind of spiritual sensitivity to us and to the Lord. #o even beforethey knew what was happening, this is the message he wanted to be passed along to us thisweekend. #o I!m 'ust going to pass it along. The little book talks about an e(perience of )ing%avid in * #amuel + in a town called -iklag. %avid was living in this town and would go outand do battle out of this town. ne time after doing battle he and all of his men came back andthe town had been destroyed and all of their families had been taken captive. #o what did he do/$hat can we learn from him/

0ecause as we!ve been walking through studying the 0ible recently we!ve been talking about thefact that if you look at the 0ible and see the stories in the 0ible not 'ust as interesting stories butas ways that you and I can learn how to live life. There are some things that we can learn from%avid about how to live the life that 1od wants us to live even in the midst of tragiccircumstances.

Let me 'ust say something to a particular group of you as we walk through this ow to #urvivethe %ifficult %ays, what do you do when things are falling apart, what do you do when you can!tfind any hope in your circumstances. I know there!s a group of you who 'ust this last week

stepped across the line and you began a relationship with 2esus 3hrist. This Easter we hadalmost three thousand people step across the line and say, I want to begin a relationship with2esus 3hrist. $e applaud you who have made this step.

I 'ust want to say to you as you!re beginning this walk with 3hrist, this life with 3hrist, the ideasomewhere that being a follower of 2esus means life is now going to be perfect 4 there!s no suchthing as that. $e do get a perfect life in heaven. I am looking forward to that, aren!t you/ 0uton this earth we do face evil. There!s a lot of good in this world and a lot of good in 1od butthere!s also a lot of evil and trouble in this world. If you think you!re going to live a perfect life

because now you!re a follower of 2esus, you haven!t looked at the lives of the followers of 2esusover the last two thousand years and the troubles that they faced. 5nd you certainly haven!t

looked at the 0ible and the troubles that faithful followers of 1od have had throughout the 0ible.&ou haven!t looked at the life of 2esus. 2esus faced a lot of troubles.

#o the 6uestion is, how do you and I find 1od in the midst of the difficulties, the struggles oflife/ ow do we find the strength to walk through no matter what happens in life/

%avid here in * #amuel + is an e(ample of what to do. $e7re going to talk about five things.There!s more in this little book but we!re going to pick out five of them. 8ive things you and Ican do during the tough times.


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WHAT TO DO ON THE WORST DAY OF YOUR LIFESurviving The Worst

$hat!s the first thing you do when tragedy strikes, when your heart is hurting/

1. The first thing you o is you !ee".

That!s the most appropriate thing to do. &ou cry. The 0ible says in * #amuel + 9+:; When David and his men reached Ziglag they found it was destroyed by fire and their wives and sonsand daughters taken captive. So David and his men wept aloud until they had no strength left toweep.

I know some of us have been doing a lot of weeping this week. $eeping for my good friendsRick and )ay and family. $eeping for my nephew "atthew whose life was lost. "y wife3haundel, she!s Rick!s sister as many of you know. $eeping for their family. $eeping for ourchurch family and the hurt that we feel for somebody that we so deeply love. That!s the rightresponse. That!s the right first response.

If you!re wondering, is that the right response/ Is that really how we should act/

I would call your attention to the shortest verse in the 0ible, the easiest verse to memori


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2esus grew up in a culture that was unafraid to show emotion. The 2ewish culture that he grewup in, when they cried it wasn!t some little trickle down the cheek. It was loud wails. $hen themen in that culture cried, when they mourned, they not only cried out to 1od, but in their tearsthey would actually take the outer cloak that they were wearing and rip it in two as an e(pressionof their grief. They knew how to show emotion.

I need to learn something from the power of 2esus! emotion. 5 little paragraph from an article onthe emotions of 2esus by $alter ansen has always been meaningful to me. I guess because I!min that group that sometime has a hard time showing emotion. This group, by the way, is calledmen. That!s the name of that group that sometimes has a hard time showing emotion. $eactually all do sometimes.

Listen to what this paragraph says about 2esus and his emotions9 >I am spellbound by theintensity of 2esus! emotions. Aot a twinge of pity but heartbroken compassion. Aot a passingirritation but terrifying anger. Aot a silent tear but groans of anguish. Aot a weak smile butecstatic celebration. 2esus! emotions are like a mountain river cascading with clear water. "y

emotions are more like a muddy foam or a feeble trickle. 2esus invites us to come to him anddrink. $hoever is thirsty and believes in him will have his river of the water of life flowingfrom his inmost being, 2ohn B says. $e!re not to be merely spellbound by what we see in theemotional 2esus. $e!re to be unbound by his #pirit so that his life becomes our lifeC hisemotions our emotions. To be transformed into his likeness.@

#o the e(ample, as you and I look at the life of 2esus is clear. 2esus did not deny his emotions.

2esus denied himself by not always bowing to those emotions, not always doing what thoseemotions told him to do. 0ut he didn!t deny his emotions. e let them out. e let them be seen.e wept. e teaches us to act in ways that recogni


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that you have. That!s our emotion with 1od. 1od, I!m depending on you with everything that Ihave.

5s we walk through this message, I hope we!ll do these things as we talk about many of them.#o in your mind right now, 'ust cry out in your heart for Rick and )ay and the $arren family, for friends, for our church family. 3ry out in your heart for these people that we love. 3ry out inyour heart for the things that you!re facing. $hat you!re going through in your life.

I talk to many people and they say, I see someone else who!s hurting, but I can!t help but thinkabout the hurts that are in my life. 5nd I feel a little guilty about that.

%on!t feel guilty about that. $e!re all hurting. 5nd we all know that we are all hurting. I knowthat Rick and )ay want you to sense 1od!s healing for your hurt. &our hurt. #o in your heartright now cry out to 1od, >1od, we depend on you. $e need you for hope. $ithout you wecannot make it through this.@

The first thing you do, the first e(ample we get from %avid of these five things to do is youweep. &ou cry out to 1od.

#. The se%on thing you o is you on&t get 'itter.

"ake sure that you don!t get bitter. * #amuel + 9D, David was distressed because the men weretalking about stoning him" each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons and his daughters.

The easiest thing in the world to do is to get bitter and out of that bitterness to start blaming.$hen anything goes wrong in our lives there!s always someone to blame. There!s almost alwayssomeone to blame, because we live in an imperfect world. The people around you are imperfect.

#o something they did or something they said either before, after, during, there is somebody to blame.

The problem with blame is it ends up in bitterness. It ends up running our lives. I don!t wantthat for my life. &ou don!t want that for your life. #o one of the things we have to do in themidst of tragedy and the midst of hurt is to say, I!m going to make sure I don!t get bitter. I don!tstart blaming.

If we!re really honest, when we start blaming, one of the people we want to blame is 1od. $ewonder, why/ I would be an absolute fool if I thought I could e(plain to you the whys behindthe une(plainable things of life.

I don!t know why with a lot of things. I don!t know why one young man dies and another youngman lives. I don!t know why somebody who seems so deserving dies and someone who seemsso undeserving, who!s hurt so many people, lives. I don!t know why one person gets cancer andanother doesn!t get cancer. I don!t know why one person gets healed of cancer and another

person doesn!t get healed. "aybe when we get to heaven 1od!s going to tell us the answer to allof those why 6uestions. "aybe we won!t need the answer. 0ut right now I 'ust know? I don!tknow why.

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0ut I do know this9 I do know that even when I don!t know why, even when you don!t knowwhy, there is a 1od who will walk with me through that circumstance. I know that 1od canhandle all of my 6uestions and that he!ll keep walking with me. e will be with me through anyand every circumstance of life. I do know this9 There is a church family around me who lovesme and will be with me and will be praying for me. I do know this9 there is 1od!s $ord to giveme encouragement and strength and hope. 5nd I do know this9 That in the midst of all of my6uestions there is a 1od who can handle every one of those 6uestions and more and keep onloving me, never stop loving me and give me the strength that I need for today. That!s what Ihang on to.

In order to not get bitter, one of the tough issues that all of us have to face in life is the issue offorgiveness. $hen I!ve been hurt it can turn so easily into an unforgiveness towards someone

because they were involved in my hurt. nforgiveness is the easiest road to go down and because they were so wrong and because my hurt is so huge, so large.

owever if you and I let that unforgiveness lie, if you let it grow in your life, bitterness always

grows right alongside of it. It might be seen by othersC it might be unseen by others. 0ut youknow it!s there. It!s there in the hardening of your heart. It!s there in the anger that will never goaway. It!s there in the apathy about life, that!s how it often shows up. &ou 'ust don!t careanymore.

There are some of you here, you!ve been holding on to an unforgiveness, not 'ust for weeks oreven maybe a year or two, but it!s been decades. It!s my prayer that somehow in the grace of1od 4 it can only be through his grace 4 that he!ll give you a releaseC he!ll give you a moment offorgiveness right now.

Let me remind you that forgiveness does not mean saying that what they did was right or that it!s

okay, or that it doesn!t matter anymore. It matters. It hurt. It hurt your life and other people!slives. 1od will one day 'udge that in a way that only he can.

#o what does it mean to forgive/ It means that you let it go to 1od. I!m not going to keep 'udging them in my heart because it!s building a bitterness in my heart that I!m living with andeverybody around me is living with. #o I!m going to forgive. I!m going to let it go to 1od. I!mgoing to find the strength to forgive in the fact that he!s forgiven me, more than I can imagine.nly by the grace of 1od can that happen but I!m praying right now that the grace of 1od ishappening. Right now, in some of your hearts, in some of your minds, you!re saying, I!ve never

been able to do it before but somehow in this moment, 1od, you!ve given me the grace. I saythose words in my mind. I forgive. I let it go to you.

$hen you do that, you!re fighting against bitterness in your life. &ou!re deciding to not get bitter in life.

$hat do we do when everything falls apart, what do we do when there!s no hope to be found inthe circumstances of life/ 8irst you weep. That!s the right first thing to do. Then you make sureyou don!t get bitter.

Then %avid teaches us to do a third thing. This is something else you can do immediately.)


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$. You en%our*ge yourse+f in ,o .

This is a familiar verse to some of you in this passage. * #amuel + 9D David encouragedhimself in the #ord his $od. e made a conscious decision to look away from thecircumstances that could be so discouraging and to look to the Lord his 1od and to look forencouragement. e didn!t encourage himself in the circumstance. ow could he do that/ edidn!t try to be a fake and a phony and try to make something good out of something that was

bad in their lives. Ao, he looked somewhere else. e looked to the Lord his 1od. 5nd that!swhere he found encouragement.

ow do you do that/ $hat does it mean to do that/ To encourage yourself in 1od. bviouslyit!s something we have to choose to do for this to happen. If you have no encouragement rightnow from 1od in your life, what can you choose to do that can bring that encouragement intoyour life/

There!s a number of things but let me 'ust talk about two of them. Two choices you and I canmake. &ou!ve already made the first one.

The first choice is get around 1od!s people. ther people who are looking for encouragementfrom 1od, you get around those kinds of people and you hear encouragement from them.

ebrews +9*+ says So encourage each other day after day as long as it s still called %oday! lestany of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. The encouragement of others keeps myheart from being hardened. )eeps sin from deceiving me. )eeps me from going down thewrong path. That!s the power of encouragement. 5nd that!s the power of your choice to betogether with 1od!s family, with 1od!s people. That!s the power of small groups &when we get

together in a small group to be with other people and to hear encouragement from one another.$e need encouragement.

I totally understand that not everybody you meet, not even every follower of 2esus is a perfectencourager in every moment. #ometimes they!re more discouraged than you are. &ou go tosomebody for encouragement and they!re taking you down a notch rather than up notch. #owhat do you do then/ The two of you go together and try to find somebody who is encouraging.Look for somebody with a smile on their face. 8ind a person and talk to them.

Even when you!re discouraged you can encourage somebody else by letting them know they!renot alone. 0y letting them know, I!m discouraged too. 0ut it!s okay. &ou don!t have to have

these flowery words or 0ible verses memori


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%avid went to the priest and he got a word from 1od. e said, $hat does 1od have to say/$hat!s 1od!s direction on this/ &ou get a word from 1od. &ou go to 1od!s $ord. 5nd youlook in 1od!s $ord for 1od!s direction.

$hat!s 1od!s direction when everything is falling apart/ The direction is not in thecircumstance. The direction has to be above and beyond the circumstances. 5nd the directionthat 1od wants to take my heart when things aren!t working in this world, when they!re fallingapart in this world, he wants to take my heart in the direction of hope. The hope that I can find inhim, the hope that I can find in others, the hope that I can find in eternity. 1od!s $ord is filled,absolutely filled with verses about hope. Looking to him for hope.

Let me 'ust 6uickly walk through some of the 0ible, some of the verses in the 0ible about hopewith you. The hundreds and hundreds of verses. Remind you of a few of the most familiar ofthem.

5s you walk through the 0ible you!ll come across a chapter like Psalm F+, %he #ord is my

shepherd! ' shall lack nothing. (e s the one that leads me beside )uiet waters. (e s the one whomakes me to lie down in green pastures. Then it says later *ven though ' walk through thevalley of the shadow of death! you will be with me. 1od is with you. That!s the hope that wehang on to.

&ou keep walking through the 0ible and you come across Isaiah ; *ven young people growweary and tired! but those who hope in the #ord they will rise up on wings like eagles. %hey willwalk and not be weary. %hey ll run and not be faint. That!s the power of hope in your life.&ou get new strength in your life, your daily life.

#o you look in 1od!s $ord and you look in the direction of hope.

$hen I think about hope I think about a moment in the life of 2esus that has always captured mymind. It!s the night before 2esus died. e!s sitting in the upper room with his disciples. e!stalking to them about the fact that he!s going to die the ne(t day. They didn!t know. They didn!tunderstand. They were confused. 2esus looked them in the eye and he talked to them abouthope. 2esus said to them, %rust in $od. %rust also in me. 'n my +ather s house are manymansions and ' m going there to prepare a place for you. ,nd if ' go and prepare a place for

you! ' ll come back and receive you to be with me where ' am. Then 2esus said, -ou know theway where ' m going. Thomas was honest enough to say, #ord! we don t know the way you re

going. (ow do we know the way I!m glad he asked that because then 2esus said this versethat many of us know. 2esus said, &ou don!t know the way/ ' am the way! and the truth! and

the life. /o one comes to the +ather but through me.

$here do you find hope/ &ou find hope in 2esus. $here do you look for the direction of hope/&ou look to 2esus.

#o many times when I face tragedy, when I face a crisis or I walk into a hospital room of afamily who are followers of 2esus facing a crisis, or a home. I see that they have hurt but theyalso have hope. They have grief but they also have comfort. I so often wonder, where do you


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turn without 2esus in this moment/ e is the one to turn to. $here do you find strength withouthim in this moment/ e is the one to turn to.

#o I encourage youC turn to him now. Turn to him like you never have. Pray that Rick and )ayand their family will turn to him 4 they will. 0ut then also you turn to him right now. In themidst of your hurt, turn to 2esus 3hrist for hope. Turn to him for hope.

Turn to him for the hope of eternal life. $henever we talk about death I know it!s scary forsome people because we haven!t thought about it. $hich is pretty silly if you really considerthis. $e all know that someday we!re going to die. 0ut think about this with meC most peoplespend vastly more time preparing for their retirement which is going to last 'ust a few years than

preparing for their death which is going to last for all eternity. It makes no sense at all when youthink about it.

ave you prepared for your death/ ow do you do that/ &ou put your hope in 2esus 3hrist.2esus said you put your hope in meC I will give you the gift of eternal life. &ou don!t have to earn

itC you can!t earn it. e!ll give it to you as a gift.

e bought that gift at a very steep price. That!s what the cross of 3hrist is all about. 0ut heoffers that gift to you. &ou can receive that gift right now. 2ust in prayer say to him, 2esus3hrist, I put my hope in you. I put my hope in your forgiveness. I put my hope in your life. I

put my hope in you.

$hen you and I think about how we can encourage ourselves in 1od, we hope in him, we hopein 2esus 3hrist. 5 couple ways we can do that is by being around 1od!s people, by looking to1od!s $ord.

There!s a fourth thing that %avid teaches us to do. 8or many of us this may be down the road alittle bit. This isn!t the first thing you do. 8irst you weep.

(. /ut then o!n the ro* eventu*++y you get to * "oint !here you 'egin to +oo0 to thefuture.

&ou begin to look past what you!ve lost and you begin to look to the future for what 1od wantsto restore. 8or what 1od wants to do. ut of what you!ve lost or how he even wants to restorewhat you!ve lost. 1od has the power of doing that.

In %avid!s life, for them they began to think where did our families go/ The men went out and

they looked towards finding their families. They began to look towards the future. They didn!t 'ust stay there and look at the ruins of the past. There came a moment when they got past theirweeping and they got past their grief and still weeping, still in grief, still hurting, they began tolook to the future also. $hat does 1od have to happen in our lives/

ow do you and I look to the future in the midst of tough times/ The way to look to the future isto remember last week. Last week we celebrated Easter. 5nd Easter is all about your future. It!snot 'ust about something that happened in the past 4 two thousand years ago. 0ut Easter is allabout your future. It!s all about the future that 1od has for you, what he wants to do in your life,


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in your circumstances, how he wants to make a difference every day of my life. That!s whatEaster is all about. That!s what the cross is all about 4 2esus dying for you. That!s what theresurrection is all about. e gave his life for you.

Look to the future. If I!m going to look to the future in the midst of the tough times, what I!vegot to do is find a way to live not 'ust in the ups and downs of my circumstances but to liveoutside of, above those circumstances. Rick and )ay have taught us this so many times. The circumstances of life are like a railroadtrack. &ou!ve got both. &ou!ve got the good and you!ve got the bad. They!re happening all thetime in our lives. #o if I!m depending on my circumstances to show me hope, to show me thefuture, I!m going to be in this up and down roller coaster of life.

8or some of you it!s going to feel up and down. thers of you, you might have the blessing offeeling up most of the time. 0ut most of us, it!s going to feel up and down most of the time. Thetruth about circumstances is it!s pretty simple. I!ve got two kinds. I!ve got good circumstances

and I!ve got bad circumstances. The good circumstances 4 have you noticed this/ 4 they don!tlast long enough. 5nd the bad ones, they 'ust seem to stick around for too long.

If you and I are trying to put our hope in our circumstances, you!re going to have some greatdays with 1od. &ou!re going to have some good days. 0ut you!re going to have some bad daystoo. #o if I!m trying to put my hope 'ust in my circumstances it!s 'ust not enough. The goodones don!t last. 5nd by the way, if all you!re putting your hope in is good circumstances, that!s

prideful in the end anyway. >I!ve got better circumstances than everybody else.@ The real truthof the matter is, most of us face difficulties all of our life. I!ve got to have something outside ofthat.

$hat!s outside of that/ The hope of Easter. $hat!s outside of that/ The fact that 2esus 3hrist broke into history and changed your history. To let you know you don!t have to live a victim ofcircumstances the rest of your life. &ou and I can live looking to the future that he has.

#o what do I do/ I look all the way through this life to the future, to the future of eternity. Aotonly the future eternity, you look at this life through the lens of where you!re headed, the hopethat you!re headed toward. 5nd you live life that way.

$hen you start to live life that way you become a different kind of person. I get thereC I get aglimmer of it every once in a while. I want to live there in my life. I want us to live there in ourlives. That!s the kind of hope that he gives. &ou look to the future. &ou look to the future of his

hope in our lives.

$hen you!re going through tough times what do we do/ 8irst we weep. Then you don!t get bitter. Then you encourage yourself in 1od. Then you look towards the future with hope.

0ut then there!s a fifth thing that they did that teaches us to do a fifth thing.

). The fifth thing you o is you *tt*%0 evi+.

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* #amuel + 9*B:*G, David fought them from dust until evening of the ne0t day. e went outand he attacked those who had taken their families. e attacked evil.

That is the number one principle for defeating evil in our lives. To attack evil. It!s not what wefeel like doing. It!s not what I feel like doing. $hen evil comes into our lives, when troublecomes into our lives, what we want to do is retreat. ur heart says, is there somewhere I can runto where this kind of evil will never touch me, never touch my family/ The evil of this world.There!s no such place in this world.

5s I!ve said many times, the goodness of 1od is so great, we see it so many times in this world,this world isn!t 'ust evil but there is certainly a lot of evil in this world.

#o what am I going to do about it/ Run away from it/ There are a lot of ways to try to runaway. &ou can try to move. &ou can try to hide out in church. There are people who try to hideout in church, to hide out from evil.

That!s not what the 0ible teaches us to do. 5nd by the way, that!s not where the victory is found.That!s not where the hope is found, that!s not where the strength is found. The strength is foundin deciding I!m going to attack evil.

&ou say, what can I do for Rick and )ay right now/ bviously you can pray for them. Prayersmean more than you can possibly imagine. bviously you can do the little things like hug yourkids more closely or be kind to the people in your life.

&ou see this in Rick!s e(ample, you see this in e(ample of )ay!s life. Let!s 'ust take this onestep higher. Let!s decide the rest of our lives that we!re going to be all about attacking evil.

ow do you do that in a practical way/ $hen I talk about attacking evil what does that mean/Let me give you some ideas of what I mean by that.

ne of the ways that evil shows up in our lives is by what I call inner accusation. These voiceswithin that put you down, that say you cannot have faith, you cannot be a person that trusts in1od.

ne of #atan!s names in the 0ible is the accuser. 5nd 2esus wants us to overwhelm, overcomethe accuser, these inner accusations. &ou know what I!m talking about. #ome of you who 'uststepped across the line this last week to begin to follow 2esus, I know because #atan has no newtricks. I know the accusations that he!s sending into your mind this last week. e said to you,

>$ho do you think you are that you think you could be a follower of 2esus/ Look at whatyou!ve done. &ou don!t belong with those people. &ou don!t belong following 1od.@

I!m here to tell you that 2esus says the opposite. 5nd you and I have to go against, we have toattack evil even as it comes into our minds.

Instead of arguing, here!s what you do. Instead of arguing with yourself about those innerthoughts of inade6uacy or lack of faith 4 &ou could never start that kind of ministryH 1od couldnever use you in that kind of wayH &ou know what I!m talking about. $e!ve all had these

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thoughts inside. They come again and again. Instead of arguing against them 4 I am a prettygood personH ere!s the five reasons why. I should be able to do this ministry 4 you!re nevergoing to win that way.

ow do you win in this battle of inner accusation/ ere!s how you do it. &ou 'ust close youreyes and you picture in your mind the cross of 2esus 3hrist. &ou picture what 2esus did for you.Instead of arguing based on who you are, argue based on who he is. That!s how you attack evil.

The cross of 2esus 3hrist is the place where evil was defeated. I think many of us, when wethink of Easter, we think of the cross as the place of 2esus! defeat and we think of the resurrectionas the place of 2esus! victory. 0ut when you read the 0ible the truth is 2esus was victorious at thecross and he was also victorious in the resurrection.

#o you look at the cross as a place of victory over evil. &ou look at the cross and say, #atan,sorryH &ou lost. 2esus won. That settles it.

Listen to what the 0ible has to say about this. 3olossians F9*=, $od took away Satan s powerto accuse you of sin! and $od openly displayed to the whole world 1hrist s triumph at the crosswhere your sins were all taken away.

#o when you face those inner thoughts of inade6uacy before 1od, those inner temptations tothink 1od could never love someone like you, you close your mind and picture the cross of3hrist. 1od openly displayed his love for you there, openly triumphed over those accusationsthere. That!s the way you and I attack evil.

5nother way to attack evil is when the outer confrontations come into our lives, thecircumstances, the criticisms, the confrontations, the times when life 'ust seems to fall apart.

$hat are you going to do when everything is 'ust falling apart around you in this world/ $henyou!re faced with the circumstances of life that are falling apart, you begin to picture yourself assomeone who is rescued. &ou picture the rescue of 2esus 3hrist. &ou remember verses like FTimothy ;9*G that says %he #ord will rescue me from every evil attack and he will bring me

safely to his heavenly kingdom. %o him be the glory forever and ever. ,men.

&ou can live the rest of your life in fear of what might happen to you. r you can live the rest ofyour life knowing that you!re rescued by the one who loves you the most, 2esus 3hrist. The0ible says in 1alatians *9; (e gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age.

These two verse, F Timothy, 1alatians, they don!t pull punches when it comes to what happensin this world. Aotice it says >every evil attack@ or >the present evil age@. 0ut that!s not wherethe story ends. It also talks about the greatest rescue operation ever completed.

2esus came down from heaven to earth to throw you a lifeline. #o what do you do/ &ou grabthat lifeline for all it!s worth. &ou hold on to that for all it!s worth.

ow do you and I attack evil/ Let me tell you another way. I think this is the most powerfulway. ow do we attack evil/ The 0ible says when faced with evil we choose to do good.

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That!s how you attack it. &ou don!t do evil in the face of evil. That 'ust increases evil in theworld. $hen you and I are faced with evil we choose to do good.

Romans *F9F* says this very clearly9 Do not be overcome by evil! but overcome evil with good.

This e(tremely significant verse tells you and I how important our focus is. $here!s my focusgoing to be/ Is it going to be on the evil or is it going to be on the good/ &ou will never defeatevil by focusing on evil. &ou will never defeat lust by focusing on lust. &ou will never defeathatred by focusing on hatred. &ou!ll never defeat unforgiveness by focusing on unforgiveness.

#o what do you do/ &ou defeat it by focusing on what is good. &ou defeat lust by focusing onlove. &ou defeat unforgiveness by deciding to forgive. &ou defeat hatred by deciding to serveothers, to give to others. That!s how you defeat it.

&ou defeat evil by living, by doing what is good. 5nd because of that, when we decide to do

that, there!s a victory that comes into our lives in the midst of any circumstance of life. It doesn!ttake away the hurt of the circumstance. 0ut it gives a victory over that circumstance.

The 0ible says in Romans G9+B, We become! through all these things triumphantly victorious!by the power of him who loved us.

5gain and again we!re drawn back to the fact that 1od loves you. ne of the strongest most powerful ways you defeat evil by focusing on the good is by focusing on the fact that he lovesyou. $e face this daily battle in life. #ome days are better than others. #ome weeks are betterthan others. 0ut there!s this daily battle. 5nd in this daily battle we!re supplied with 1od!s lovewith all we need for victory. e will not withhold any good thing from us. e will give us what

we need when we need it.

Evil is real. It impacts our lives every day of our lives. #ometimes we can hide from it morethan others. 0ut it impacts our lives every day of our lives.

0ut 1od!s goodness is also real. 5nd 1od!s goodness impacts our lives every day of our lives.The 6uestion is which one am I going to focus on today.

I!ve always loved the lines of that hymn >Life is hard but 1od is good.@ I!m going to focus onthe goodness of 1od today. is goodness to take me through the circumstance that I!m facingnow. 5nd also to a circumstance of perfection with him in heaven. That!s what I!m going to

focus on.

#o what does this mean/ ow am I going to do this/ ow do I defeat evil, attack evil bydeciding to do what is good this week/ Let me give you some ideas, some things you and I cando. &ou can start doing some of these right now. 2ust start with one thing. 2ust start with onespecific thought.

In one specific thought maybe even right now, attack evil by deciding instead of focusing onwhat is bad, what is wrong, what is evil, what they did, what I did, instead of focusing on that,

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focus on the goodness of 1od. I!m going to focus on the love of 1od. In that one thought. 2uststart there. "ove from the thoughts of accusation to the thoughts of victory of 3hrist!s love.

In one specific habit this ne(t week, an evil habit in your life, a habit that!s been tearing youdown, tearing the other people in your life down, how could you turn from that thought and

begin one specific good habit/ Instead of fighting the bad habit, trying to defeat evil that waythat!s never going to work, how could you turn to begin a new good habit/

"aybe it means going to 3elebrate Recovery every 8riday night. 5nd it starts this week. That!smy new good habit.

r maybe it means I!m going to start picking up 1od!s $ord and reading three, five, eight versesout of it every day. #ometime during the day. 2ust read a little of 1od!s $ord. Let it feed mysoul every day of my life.

"aybe it means you call a friend and say, I 'ust need someone to encourage me. 8ind an

encouraging friend, by the way, if you!re going to call a friend to encourage you. >3an we go to#tarbuck!s once a week and spend a half an hour and talk about things of faith/ $ould you dothis with me/@

That decision to pick up the phone, that decision to open the 0ible, that decision to show up at3elebrate Recovery 4 it will change everything. #tart one good habitC it changes the entiredirection of your life.

#o how can we defeat evil in one specific thought, one specific habit, one specific relationshipthis ne(t week/ ow in one specific relationship could you begin to see that what they met forevil 1od can use for good.

That famous verse from 1enesis = , how they meant it for evil. That doesn!t mean it wasn!t evil.0ut 1od in his power, he!s more powerful than evil, he can use it even for good in your life. Thegood for giving you compassion for other people facing the same hurt. The good for drawingyou close to him in the midst of this. ow in one specific relationship beginning even right nowin this moment they meant it for evil but 1od can use it for good. 1od can mean it for good.

I!m going to look at the good that 1od wants to bring into my life.

In one specific problem this ne(t week how could you begin to re'oice in what 1od is doingthrough that problem that you!re facing right now/ ow he!s developing your character, your

heart. The problem is bad. $e don!t have to be fake and phony to say that 1od is at work inour lives. &ou don!t have to pretend the problem isn!t bad. The problem is bad, the evil is real 4the 0ible is clear about this. 0ut there is a 1od who is greater than that problem. #o how can I

begin to look to the 1od who!s greater and re'oice in the fact that he!s working in my life even inthe midst of this problem/

ere!s what I!m saying as we talk about this one specific thought or habit or relationship or problem. 5nd turning from what is evil to what is good in our life. ere!s what I!m saying9 Letyour response to the pain of those you love be your decision to attack evil this ne(t week.

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Instead of your response to the pain of those you love be running away, trying to run away whichwe could never do, turn that around and say my response ne(t week, the kind of person I!mgoing to be, the kind of people we!re going to be is we!re going to attack evil this ne(t week.

If you say in your heart, >I!d like to do that, that sounds great but I 'ust don!t have it in me. &ousaid be honest about your emotions? "y emotions say I do not have that in me. I 'ust don!t feellike doing that. I don!t feel like attacking evil. I don!t even feel like getting out of bed in themorning if I!m honest about it.

#o what do you do when you feel like giving up/ 0ecause we all feel like giving up sometimes.

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your strength to do this. I can!t do this on my own strength. 0ut I know that in the strengthof your love I will never be separated from you. The strength of your grace and power.That you can do things in my life that I can never do. #o I pray for the miracle of your loveto happen in my life this ne(t week and in the lives of those that I love this ne(t week. $eask for this together, 2esus, in your name. 5men.

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024901_what to do on the worst day of your life

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