Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
This is Getting to Know Your Bible, a program dedicated
to the proclaiming of the good News of Jesus Christ.
Here's Billy Lambert.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Hello, I'm Billy Lambert. I am the regular speaker on
Getting to Know Your Bible, and I want to welcome
you today. This may be the very first time that
you have seen this telecast. I want you to know
that the thing that we emphasize on getting to Know
your Bible is a word of God. The Bible is
(00:46):
the greatest book that has ever been written. Many years ago,
there were those that wrote books that thought they would
replace the Bible. That's what Thomas Paine thought when he
wrote The Age of Reason. But the Bible continues to
live after century. Jesus said, heaven and earth shall pass away,
but my Word shall not pass away. So on getting
(01:07):
to Know your Bible, we're teaching from the timeless Word
of God. The Bible is God's book, the greatest book
that has ever been written. And today we're going to
be opening up the pages of the Word of God
and delivering a message to you from God's book. Today
we're going to be seeing a one of our classics
(01:29):
that is a production of one of our telecasts from
time in the past, and we want you to stay tuned.
We're going to be offering a free Bible correspondence course
today and we will see information on the screen as
to how you can receive that course. And so we
want to pause at this.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Time to help you in your study of the Bible.
We want to send you this Bible Correspondence course. This
course is non denominational, it's based on the Bible, it's
conducted by mail, and it's free to receive this course.
Right to Getting to Know your Bible po Box three
one four, Summerdale, Alabama three six five eight zero or
(02:09):
call till free one eight seven seven seven one one
five two one four.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
It is a pleasure to be with you today on
getting to Know your Bible. Thank you for tuning in. Today.
We're going to continue discussing the sufficiency of God's grace.
God's grace is indeed sufficient for all the needs we
have in our lives. In Ephesians chapter two, verse eight,
(02:42):
Paul wrote, for by grace are you saved through faith?
And we are indeed saved by God's grace. But in
Second Corinthians chapter twelve and verse nine, Paul was told,
My grace is sufficient for you. My strength is made
(03:05):
perfect in weakness. When we think about the grace of God,
we indeed know that God's grace is sufficient for all
of our needs. Whatever we are today's by God's grace.
In one Corinthians fifteen and verse ten, Paul said, but
the grace of God, I am what I am. Paul
(03:27):
was an apostle, he was a Christian, he was saved.
All of that was by the grace of God Almighty.
And God's grace is favor that God bestows upon us.
We did not merit, that we did not earn, that
we did not deserve. It's God doing for us what
(03:48):
we're not capable of doing for ourselves. And on previous
programs we've talked about the sufficiency of God's grace. We've
talked about the fact that disgrace indeed is sufficient to
save us from our sins. And if we're saved, it
will be by God's grace. The grace of God that
(04:09):
brings salvation has appeared to all men. Tied Us two
and eleven, and by grace are you saved? Through faith?
But it's not a question are we saving the grace
of God? But how are we saving the grace of God?
And we're saved the grace of God when we obey
the Gospel of Christ. For the Gospel is the power
(04:29):
of God and the salvation Romans one sixteen. I'd suggest
to you that we are saved of the grace of God,
just like the men and women of Corinth were saved
in Acts chapter eighteen and verse eight. Many of the
Corinthians hearing believed and were baptized, and hence they were
(04:49):
saved by the grace of God. So if you would
believe on Jesus today, and as a penitent confessing believer
in Jesus Christ, be baptizing Christ, you too can be
saving God's grace. And then on another telecast, we talked
about the sufficiency of God's grace when we drift away,
(05:10):
when we become wayward children of His And we talked
about the prodigal son who went away from home, and
yet when he got up out of the hog pen
and on his way home, the father was there waiting
for his son. He loved his son. And so God's
grace is sufficient to save us, to forgive us when
(05:33):
we fall, and we can, but we have to get
back up we're going to make it to the end
of the way. But today we want to talk about
the sufficiency of God's grace when we have trouble in
our lives. Now, going back to the passage in Second
Corinthians twelve, Paul had trouble in a lot of trouble
(05:55):
in his life. Earlier in that chapter he talked about
thorn that he had in the flesh. And I have
no clue what that thorn was. I don't know of
anyone who knows. I know. There are lots of speculations.
Some think that Paul had epilepsy. Some thought he had
recurring headaches, and some people think that he was just
(06:18):
a cranky bachelor. And others think that Paul had poor eyesight.
There may be more a reason to believe that that
could have been the case than perhaps any of the others.
But the fact is we still don't know. But Paul
prayed that God would remove that thorn. Three times he
prayed that God would remove it, but God did not
(06:40):
remove it. And sometimes we pray that God will do
certain things, but God doesn't do what we ask, but
he does force what he did for Paul. And listen
to verse nine of Second Corinthians chapter twelve. My grace
is sufficient for you. You see, God was going to
give Paul staining grace to help Paul with all the
(07:03):
problems that he had in his life. And whatever that
thorn was, it wasn't the only thing Paul dealt with
in his life. In Second Corinthians chapter eleven, he talked
about how had been beaten, he had been stoned. It
had been a shipwreck. He was in perils everywhere he went.
He was in cold, he was in nakedness. He had
enough to make the average preacher run. Enough happened in
(07:27):
his life to cause the average preacher to get like
Jeremiah did in Jeremiah chapter twenty when he said I'm
just going to quit. But Paul was like Jeremiah in
that there was a fire in his heart burning. The
word of God was in his heart, burning like a fire.
And Paul just kept on keeping on. And so Paul
(07:49):
had problems, and God's grace was sufficient to help Paul,
to strengthen Paul, to sustained Paul in the midst of
all of those problems. You know, God is with us.
In Psalms chapter forty six, in verse one, the Bible says,
God is our refuge. God is our strength. He is
(08:09):
a very present help in time of trouble. And I
like that word present. That means he's here right now.
So someone says, well, you and I'll come over in
a few days and help your brother Labr. I need
help right now. And that's the kind of a God
that we serve, a God who is a present help. Well,
when is God a present help? When he's my helper
(08:33):
in time of trouble? And I like that In Psalms
chapter fifty five and verse twenty two, cast your burden
on the Lord, Well, what's going to happen? If I
cast my burden on the Lord, he will sustain me.
That's exactly what he did for Paul. He said, my
grace is sufficient for you. My strength is made perfect
(08:57):
in weakness. God's strength was manifested in the life of Paul.
Paul wrote in Philippians four thirteen, I can do all
things through Christ, who strengthens me. And the reason we
need to be strengthened is because living in this old
mortal body, sometimes we are subject to being weak. Sometimes
(09:18):
we're weak emotionally. Sometimes we might be weak physically. Sometimes
we may be weak in our spirit, just feel weak
and down. But it is God who steps in and
he strengthens us. Our God is such an amazing God,
and his grace is amazing, and his grace is sufficient
(09:41):
to sustain us in time of trouble. I think about
a passage that in the Book of Philippians, Chapter one,
verse twelve. Paul is in prison when he wrote this,
and he said, I would have you to understand, brethren,
that the things which happen unto me have fallen out
rather onto the furtherance of the gospel. What happened to you, Paul? Well,
(10:06):
I was put into prison. But he said, when I
was put into prison, it turned out to be an
opportunity for me to preach. It was a bad thing
for Paul to be imprisoned, but it gave an opportunity
to preach on the inside. And then in the very
(10:26):
next passage he says, those on the outside were emboldened
by Paul's example while he was in prison. And so
trouble comes in our lives. Sometimes trouble comes in our
lives in different ways, all kinds of trouble. You know.
(10:47):
There's an interesting story in Matthew chapter fourteen about the
time that Jesus walked on the water, and I know
most of you would be familiar with that story. Were
the disciples in the boat and Jesus sees them and
he starts walking on the water out there to them,
and one of them says, they had thought at first
(11:09):
it was a ghost. And then Jesus identifies himself and
the ways were bosters. And then Peter says, Lord, let
me walk on the water. And Peter got out of
the boat to walk on the water, but eventually he
had to cry out for help because he began to sink.
(11:30):
I think in that story illustrated at least three kinds
of trouble. Some trouble is imaginary, some of it is
not real. You see the disciples here in the boat.
The men are in the boat and they see Jesus coming.
They said it's a ghost, but it wasn't at all
what they thought it was Jesus. Isn't it the fact
(11:53):
that some of the problems that we have are things
that we have imagined. They're not real, They're just in
our minds. Maybe you've been home late at night by
yourself and that you hear a noise, Maybe it's a
(12:13):
noise outside, and you began to imagine all kinds of things,
and you begin to think, well, there's somebody out there
and they're trying to break in the house. But then
the next day, after having spent a sleepless night, you
began to investigate, and you find that maybe a dog
or some animal knocked over your garbage. Can you see
(12:37):
you just imagined? You imagine you see two people with
their heads together and they're talking, and then one of
them glances your way, and you begin to imagine they're
talking about you, when the truth is they may be
talking about someone else. They may be talking about some
problem that one of them is having. You just imagine it.
(13:01):
A lot of our problems are imaginary, but I tell
you the truth, some of them are real. That storm
in Matthew chapter fourteen was real. That wasn't a thing
in the world imaginary about that storm. Absolutely not. But
some of our problems are real. Your house burned down,
(13:22):
you lose everything you have. That's not imaginary. That's just
about as real as it gets. I came home the
other day and I found out that someone who lived
just down the street from me lost their home by fire.
My wife, when I went down to visit with them
and to talk to them to see what could we
do for you, Well, how can we help you? And
(13:44):
they were devastated because they lost everything, but they said
we were able to salvage pictures, pictures, and that seemed
to be the one thing that they were the most
concerned about, all the memories in those pictures. That fire
was here's a person has their money invested and and
and it goes sour, it goes south, and they lose
(14:06):
everything they've got. You tell that person that's imaginary. There's
us all in their mind. That's about as real as
it gets. And you go to the doctor and the
doctor comes in and he has a very serious look
on his face and he said, I hate to tell you,
but I must tell you. And you have cancer. You
(14:28):
have cancer. I'm cancer free, have been for a number
of years, and thank god. But I remember the day
the doctor told me, missus Lamberg, you have cancer. I
was by myself that day. My wife happened to be
out of town. I just went out in my car
(14:49):
and I sat there for the longest just trying to
wrap my mind around the announcement that I had just heard.
I can tell you for sure, that was an imaginary
it's real. A lot of our problems are real, and
some of the trouble that we have in our life
is trouble of our own doing. The trouble that came
(15:12):
into our lives because we made some bad choices, bad
decisions in life. And you see, when you make a decision,
whether it's a good decision or a bad decision, there
is a consequence to that decision, and a lot of
the problems that we have in life, the trouble that
(15:32):
we have in our lives is because we have made
a poor choice, a bad decision. I've seen young people
make the decision they're going to experiment with drugs and
they're going to start running with the crowd that uses drugs,
(15:53):
and as a result of that poor choice, that poor decision,
they ruin their lives. It's not to say that they
can't change, it's not to say they can't get back
to being a productive person. But they made a bad choice,
a bad decision that was their own doing. Some of
(16:14):
the trouble we have in our lives is because someone
else made a bad choice. Here's a family that's suffering,
greatly suffering because for the lack of food and clothing
and attention, because maybe there is a father in that family.
Number one that may be absent, he's just not there.
(16:35):
Or Number two, he's there, but he's not the kind
of a man that ought to be because he spends
all of his money on alcohol, and they don't have
money to buy food. They don't even have money to
pay the rent. And people suffer, but it's not of
their own doing. It's of the doing of someone else.
(16:57):
And so there's so much suffering, there's so much hurt,
there's so much trouble in our world. There's war, disease,
that there is hunger in our world. And I wish
that there was a way that we could just wave
(17:21):
a magic wand and do away with all of the
hunger and the starvation in this world. Isn't it sad
that there are going to be children that will die today,
not because they were sick, but because they just starved
(17:43):
to death. Trouble trouble. You know, there are a lot
of things that happened to us that are beneficial to
us when we have trouble, and when you're having it,
it's hard for us to realize that. So sometimes people
question God when trouble comes and judges six point thirteen,
(18:06):
the question is asked, you, if the Lord is for us, well,
why then is all of this befall of us? If
God is on our side, why has all of this happened?
And someone says, well, do you have a good answer
for that, brother Lambert. You know, even Jesus asked why,
(18:29):
He said, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Do you have a good answer to that question? Of course?
The answer, of course would be the salvation of the world.
And God could not look upon his son who was
dying for sin. But why why do little babies have
(18:56):
to suffer? I can't answer all of those questions. I
really don't know all the answers to all those type questions.
But I can tell you some of the benefits. When
trouble comes our way, it molds us and makes us
(19:21):
what God wants us to be. Trouble molds us and
makes us what God wants us to be. In Psalms
one hundred and nineteen and verse seventy one, the Psalm
has said, it's good that I've been afflicted. Well, David,
(19:44):
are you really sure that's what you meant to say?
That's good for me that I've been afflicted. He said,
It's good for me that I have been afflicted, that
I might learn your statutes. It's good for me that
(20:05):
I have been afflicted, that I might start listening to
you more. Oh God, It's good for me that I
have been afflicted, that I would stop depending upon myself
and trusting in myself God, and start trusting more in You.
(20:28):
You know. Solomon in Proverbs the third chapter, in verse
five said trust in the Lord with all of your heart,
and then he says, and lean not on your own understanding.
One of the major problems that some people have today
is they're leaning on themselves. They're leaning on their own understanding.
(20:55):
Israel and in days gone by were Egypt made an
alliance with Egypt, and Egypt was like a broken reed
that would break and pierce the hand that is, it
wasn't sufficient. It is only when in time of trouble
(21:18):
that we lean on the ever lasting arms of God
that we're going to be sustained. I don't have all
of the answers to the question of why, but I
know that trouble helps to build character in our lives
(21:39):
and helps us to be what God would like to
mold us and make us into actually makes us stronger.
I think another benefit that comes when that there's trouble
in our lives is that it puts us in a
(21:59):
position to be able to help and to be able
to comfort other people. One of the ways that God
has described in Second Corinthians Chapter one, beginning around verse three,
is that he is the father of mercies and the
(22:20):
God of all comfort. Not the God of some comfort,
but the God of all comfort. And then Paul continues
by saying, who comforts us? Well? In what Paul does,
God comfort us. He comforts us in all our tribulation,
(22:43):
just another way of saying his grace is sufficient. He
comforts us in all of our tribulation, in all of
our trouble, in all of our problems. God comforts us
that we may be able to comfort others with the
(23:03):
same comfort wherewith we have been comforted of God. God
comforts me, and so I can recommend God as the
great comforter to someone else. God helps me through the valley,
and I can tell some of the other traveler that's
right behind me, that's growing, how God helped me to
(23:28):
get through the valley. You see it puts us in
a position to help others. And it is not until
we have our hearts tend to rise by problems, have
our hearts softened by affliction, have our hearts softened by suffering,
(23:48):
they can really tell people all that God has done
for our soul. I think there's another thing that comes
out of suffering problems that afflict us, trouble that we
have in our lives, is that causes us to realize
(24:15):
that the best is yet to be. Listen to Apostle
Paul in Second Corinthians, chapter four, starting with verse sixteen,
for which cause we think not? One translation says for
which cause we do not lose heart, which simply means
(24:37):
we don't give up, We don't throw in the towel,
We don't become so discouraged that we say, I'm just
going to turn my back on God. For which cause
we faint not well? The outward man perish. Edward man
is being renewed day by day, and the outward man
(24:57):
is perishing every day is and it's growing older. Compare
a picture of yourself today with one ten, fifteen, twenty
thirty years ago. There's a big difference, big big difference,
and the reason there's a difference is not the fault
of the camera. The difference is the fact that this
(25:21):
outward man is getting older every day, it's perishing every day,
but the inward man is being renewed and growing stronger
every day. And then Paul said, our light affliction a
light affliction. Well, Paul, you consider being stoned a light affliction?
(25:48):
Do you consider being beaten with rods a light affliction?
Do you consider being in a shipwreck a light affliction?
Consider being in apparel in the wilderness and in the city,
and being in peril everywhere you are a light affliction?
Do you can do you consider being cold and naked
(26:12):
and hungry a light affliction? How can you refer to
it as being light? It's because of that with which
he compared it, He said, our light affliction, which is
but for a moment, it's just momentary. It's just temporary,
he said, Our light affliction, which is but for a moment,
work for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight
(26:38):
of glory. You see, it was light compared to the
eternal weight of glory. Paul, realize the best is you
have to come. You're going through some valley right now,
some probably right now. Realize if you are a Christian,
the best is yet to come. God's on you. You
(27:02):
can just mark this down. God will never leave you.
God will never forsake you. Never draw near to God,
He'll draw near to you. I want to thank you
for watching Getting to Know your Bible today, and may
(27:22):
I give you a personal invitation to visit the Church
of Christ right here in your own community. If you're
not certain words located, contact us. We'll get that information
for you. And also please call for the Bible course
or take it online. And until we meet again, May
the Lord bless you. May the Lord keep you in
(27:44):
my prayer.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
Getting to Know Your Bible has been presented by Churches
of Christ. If you have a question about the church,
or if you would like the location of a Church
of Christ near you, or to receive the free Bible
course right two Getting to Know Your Bible heelbox one four, Summerdale,
Alabama three six five eight zero or call one eight
seven seven seven one one five two one four Join
(28:11):
us next time forgetting to Know your Bible.
This is Getting to Know Your Bible, a program dedicated
to the proclaiming of the good News of Jesus Christ.
Here's Billy Lambert.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Hello, I'm Billy Lambert. I am the regular speaker on
Getting to Know Your Bible, and I want to welcome
you today. This may be the very first time that
you have seen this telecast. I want you to know
that the thing that we emphasize on getting to Know
your Bible is a word of God. The Bible is
(00:46):
the greatest book that has ever been written. Many years ago,
there were those that wrote books that thought they would
replace the Bible. That's what Thomas Paine thought when he
wrote The Age of Reason. But the Bible continues to
live after century. Jesus said, heaven and earth shall pass away,
but my Word shall not pass away. So on getting
(01:07):
to Know your Bible, we're teaching from the timeless Word
of God. The Bible is God's book, the greatest book
that has ever been written. And today we're going to
be opening up the pages of the Word of God
and delivering a message to you from God's book. Today
we're going to be seeing a one of our classics
(01:29):
that is a production of one of our telecasts from
time in the past, and we want you to stay tuned.
We're going to be offering a free Bible correspondence course
today and we will see information on the screen as
to how you can receive that course. And so we
want to pause at this.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Time to help you in your study of the Bible.
We want to send you this Bible Correspondence course. This
course is non denominational, it's based on the Bible, it's
conducted by mail, and it's free to receive this course.
Right to Getting to Know your Bible po Box three
one four, Summerdale, Alabama three six five eight zero or
(02:09):
call till free one eight seven seven seven one one
five two one four.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
It is a pleasure to be with you today on
getting to Know your Bible. Thank you for tuning in. Today.
We're going to continue discussing the sufficiency of God's grace.
God's grace is indeed sufficient for all the needs we
have in our lives. In Ephesians chapter two, verse eight,
(02:42):
Paul wrote, for by grace are you saved through faith?
And we are indeed saved by God's grace. But in
Second Corinthians chapter twelve and verse nine, Paul was told,
My grace is sufficient for you. My strength is made
(03:05):
perfect in weakness. When we think about the grace of God,
we indeed know that God's grace is sufficient for all
of our needs. Whatever we are today's by God's grace.
In one Corinthians fifteen and verse ten, Paul said, but
the grace of God, I am what I am. Paul
(03:27):
was an apostle, he was a Christian, he was saved.
All of that was by the grace of God Almighty.
And God's grace is favor that God bestows upon us.
We did not merit, that we did not earn, that
we did not deserve. It's God doing for us what
(03:48):
we're not capable of doing for ourselves. And on previous
programs we've talked about the sufficiency of God's grace. We've
talked about the fact that disgrace indeed is sufficient to
save us from our sins. And if we're saved, it
will be by God's grace. The grace of God that
(04:09):
brings salvation has appeared to all men. Tied Us two
and eleven, and by grace are you saved? Through faith?
But it's not a question are we saving the grace
of God? But how are we saving the grace of God?
And we're saved the grace of God when we obey
the Gospel of Christ. For the Gospel is the power
(04:29):
of God and the salvation Romans one sixteen. I'd suggest
to you that we are saved of the grace of God,
just like the men and women of Corinth were saved
in Acts chapter eighteen and verse eight. Many of the
Corinthians hearing believed and were baptized, and hence they were
(04:49):
saved by the grace of God. So if you would
believe on Jesus today, and as a penitent confessing believer
in Jesus Christ, be baptizing Christ, you too can be
saving God's grace. And then on another telecast, we talked
about the sufficiency of God's grace when we drift away,
(05:10):
when we become wayward children of His And we talked
about the prodigal son who went away from home, and
yet when he got up out of the hog pen
and on his way home, the father was there waiting
for his son. He loved his son. And so God's
grace is sufficient to save us, to forgive us when
(05:33):
we fall, and we can, but we have to get
back up we're going to make it to the end
of the way. But today we want to talk about
the sufficiency of God's grace when we have trouble in
our lives. Now, going back to the passage in Second
Corinthians twelve, Paul had trouble in a lot of trouble
(05:55):
in his life. Earlier in that chapter he talked about
thorn that he had in the flesh. And I have
no clue what that thorn was. I don't know of
anyone who knows. I know. There are lots of speculations.
Some think that Paul had epilepsy. Some thought he had
recurring headaches, and some people think that he was just
(06:18):
a cranky bachelor. And others think that Paul had poor eyesight.
There may be more a reason to believe that that
could have been the case than perhaps any of the others.
But the fact is we still don't know. But Paul
prayed that God would remove that thorn. Three times he
prayed that God would remove it, but God did not
(06:40):
remove it. And sometimes we pray that God will do
certain things, but God doesn't do what we ask, but
he does force what he did for Paul. And listen
to verse nine of Second Corinthians chapter twelve. My grace
is sufficient for you. You see, God was going to
give Paul staining grace to help Paul with all the
(07:03):
problems that he had in his life. And whatever that
thorn was, it wasn't the only thing Paul dealt with
in his life. In Second Corinthians chapter eleven, he talked
about how had been beaten, he had been stoned. It
had been a shipwreck. He was in perils everywhere he went.
He was in cold, he was in nakedness. He had
enough to make the average preacher run. Enough happened in
(07:27):
his life to cause the average preacher to get like
Jeremiah did in Jeremiah chapter twenty when he said I'm
just going to quit. But Paul was like Jeremiah in
that there was a fire in his heart burning. The
word of God was in his heart, burning like a fire.
And Paul just kept on keeping on. And so Paul
(07:49):
had problems, and God's grace was sufficient to help Paul,
to strengthen Paul, to sustained Paul in the midst of
all of those problems. You know, God is with us.
In Psalms chapter forty six, in verse one, the Bible says,
God is our refuge. God is our strength. He is
(08:09):
a very present help in time of trouble. And I
like that word present. That means he's here right now.
So someone says, well, you and I'll come over in
a few days and help your brother Labr. I need
help right now. And that's the kind of a God
that we serve, a God who is a present help. Well,
when is God a present help? When he's my helper
(08:33):
in time of trouble? And I like that In Psalms
chapter fifty five and verse twenty two, cast your burden
on the Lord, Well, what's going to happen? If I
cast my burden on the Lord, he will sustain me.
That's exactly what he did for Paul. He said, my
grace is sufficient for you. My strength is made perfect
(08:57):
in weakness. God's strength was manifested in the life of Paul.
Paul wrote in Philippians four thirteen, I can do all
things through Christ, who strengthens me. And the reason we
need to be strengthened is because living in this old
mortal body, sometimes we are subject to being weak. Sometimes
(09:18):
we're weak emotionally. Sometimes we might be weak physically. Sometimes
we may be weak in our spirit, just feel weak
and down. But it is God who steps in and
he strengthens us. Our God is such an amazing God,
and his grace is amazing, and his grace is sufficient
(09:41):
to sustain us in time of trouble. I think about
a passage that in the Book of Philippians, Chapter one,
verse twelve. Paul is in prison when he wrote this,
and he said, I would have you to understand, brethren,
that the things which happen unto me have fallen out
rather onto the furtherance of the gospel. What happened to you, Paul? Well,
(10:06):
I was put into prison. But he said, when I
was put into prison, it turned out to be an
opportunity for me to preach. It was a bad thing
for Paul to be imprisoned, but it gave an opportunity
to preach on the inside. And then in the very
(10:26):
next passage he says, those on the outside were emboldened
by Paul's example while he was in prison. And so
trouble comes in our lives. Sometimes trouble comes in our
lives in different ways, all kinds of trouble. You know.
(10:47):
There's an interesting story in Matthew chapter fourteen about the
time that Jesus walked on the water, and I know
most of you would be familiar with that story. Were
the disciples in the boat and Jesus sees them and
he starts walking on the water out there to them,
and one of them says, they had thought at first
(11:09):
it was a ghost. And then Jesus identifies himself and
the ways were bosters. And then Peter says, Lord, let
me walk on the water. And Peter got out of
the boat to walk on the water, but eventually he
had to cry out for help because he began to sink.
(11:30):
I think in that story illustrated at least three kinds
of trouble. Some trouble is imaginary, some of it is
not real. You see the disciples here in the boat.
The men are in the boat and they see Jesus coming.
They said it's a ghost, but it wasn't at all
what they thought it was Jesus. Isn't it the fact
(11:53):
that some of the problems that we have are things
that we have imagined. They're not real, They're just in
our minds. Maybe you've been home late at night by
yourself and that you hear a noise, Maybe it's a
(12:13):
noise outside, and you began to imagine all kinds of things,
and you begin to think, well, there's somebody out there
and they're trying to break in the house. But then
the next day, after having spent a sleepless night, you
began to investigate, and you find that maybe a dog
or some animal knocked over your garbage. Can you see
(12:37):
you just imagined? You imagine you see two people with
their heads together and they're talking, and then one of
them glances your way, and you begin to imagine they're
talking about you, when the truth is they may be
talking about someone else. They may be talking about some
problem that one of them is having. You just imagine it.
(13:01):
A lot of our problems are imaginary, but I tell
you the truth, some of them are real. That storm
in Matthew chapter fourteen was real. That wasn't a thing
in the world imaginary about that storm. Absolutely not. But
some of our problems are real. Your house burned down,
(13:22):
you lose everything you have. That's not imaginary. That's just
about as real as it gets. I came home the
other day and I found out that someone who lived
just down the street from me lost their home by fire.
My wife, when I went down to visit with them
and to talk to them to see what could we
do for you, Well, how can we help you? And
(13:44):
they were devastated because they lost everything, but they said
we were able to salvage pictures, pictures, and that seemed
to be the one thing that they were the most
concerned about, all the memories in those pictures. That fire
was here's a person has their money invested and and
and it goes sour, it goes south, and they lose
(14:06):
everything they've got. You tell that person that's imaginary. There's
us all in their mind. That's about as real as
it gets. And you go to the doctor and the
doctor comes in and he has a very serious look
on his face and he said, I hate to tell you,
but I must tell you. And you have cancer. You
(14:28):
have cancer. I'm cancer free, have been for a number
of years, and thank god. But I remember the day
the doctor told me, missus Lamberg, you have cancer. I
was by myself that day. My wife happened to be
out of town. I just went out in my car
(14:49):
and I sat there for the longest just trying to
wrap my mind around the announcement that I had just heard.
I can tell you for sure, that was an imaginary
it's real. A lot of our problems are real, and
some of the trouble that we have in our life
is trouble of our own doing. The trouble that came
(15:12):
into our lives because we made some bad choices, bad
decisions in life. And you see, when you make a decision,
whether it's a good decision or a bad decision, there
is a consequence to that decision, and a lot of
the problems that we have in life, the trouble that
(15:32):
we have in our lives is because we have made
a poor choice, a bad decision. I've seen young people
make the decision they're going to experiment with drugs and
they're going to start running with the crowd that uses drugs,
(15:53):
and as a result of that poor choice, that poor decision,
they ruin their lives. It's not to say that they
can't change, it's not to say they can't get back
to being a productive person. But they made a bad choice,
a bad decision that was their own doing. Some of
(16:14):
the trouble we have in our lives is because someone
else made a bad choice. Here's a family that's suffering,
greatly suffering because for the lack of food and clothing
and attention, because maybe there is a father in that family.
Number one that may be absent, he's just not there.
(16:35):
Or Number two, he's there, but he's not the kind
of a man that ought to be because he spends
all of his money on alcohol, and they don't have
money to buy food. They don't even have money to
pay the rent. And people suffer, but it's not of
their own doing. It's of the doing of someone else.
(16:57):
And so there's so much suffering, there's so much hurt,
there's so much trouble in our world. There's war, disease,
that there is hunger in our world. And I wish
that there was a way that we could just wave
(17:21):
a magic wand and do away with all of the
hunger and the starvation in this world. Isn't it sad
that there are going to be children that will die today,
not because they were sick, but because they just starved
(17:43):
to death. Trouble trouble. You know, there are a lot
of things that happened to us that are beneficial to
us when we have trouble, and when you're having it,
it's hard for us to realize that. So sometimes people
question God when trouble comes and judges six point thirteen,
(18:06):
the question is asked, you, if the Lord is for us, well,
why then is all of this befall of us? If
God is on our side, why has all of this happened?
And someone says, well, do you have a good answer
for that, brother Lambert. You know, even Jesus asked why,
(18:29):
He said, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Do you have a good answer to that question? Of course?
The answer, of course would be the salvation of the world.
And God could not look upon his son who was
dying for sin. But why why do little babies have
(18:56):
to suffer? I can't answer all of those questions. I
really don't know all the answers to all those type questions.
But I can tell you some of the benefits. When
trouble comes our way, it molds us and makes us
(19:21):
what God wants us to be. Trouble molds us and
makes us what God wants us to be. In Psalms
one hundred and nineteen and verse seventy one, the Psalm
has said, it's good that I've been afflicted. Well, David,
(19:44):
are you really sure that's what you meant to say?
That's good for me that I've been afflicted. He said,
It's good for me that I have been afflicted, that
I might learn your statutes. It's good for me that
(20:05):
I have been afflicted, that I might start listening to
you more. Oh God, It's good for me that I
have been afflicted, that I would stop depending upon myself
and trusting in myself God, and start trusting more in You.
(20:28):
You know. Solomon in Proverbs the third chapter, in verse
five said trust in the Lord with all of your heart,
and then he says, and lean not on your own understanding.
One of the major problems that some people have today
is they're leaning on themselves. They're leaning on their own understanding.
(20:55):
Israel and in days gone by were Egypt made an
alliance with Egypt, and Egypt was like a broken reed
that would break and pierce the hand that is, it
wasn't sufficient. It is only when in time of trouble
(21:18):
that we lean on the ever lasting arms of God
that we're going to be sustained. I don't have all
of the answers to the question of why, but I
know that trouble helps to build character in our lives
(21:39):
and helps us to be what God would like to
mold us and make us into actually makes us stronger.
I think another benefit that comes when that there's trouble
in our lives is that it puts us in a
(21:59):
position to be able to help and to be able
to comfort other people. One of the ways that God
has described in Second Corinthians Chapter one, beginning around verse three,
is that he is the father of mercies and the
(22:20):
God of all comfort. Not the God of some comfort,
but the God of all comfort. And then Paul continues
by saying, who comforts us? Well? In what Paul does,
God comfort us. He comforts us in all our tribulation,
(22:43):
just another way of saying his grace is sufficient. He
comforts us in all of our tribulation, in all of
our trouble, in all of our problems. God comforts us
that we may be able to comfort others with the
(23:03):
same comfort wherewith we have been comforted of God. God
comforts me, and so I can recommend God as the
great comforter to someone else. God helps me through the valley,
and I can tell some of the other traveler that's
right behind me, that's growing, how God helped me to
(23:28):
get through the valley. You see it puts us in
a position to help others. And it is not until
we have our hearts tend to rise by problems, have
our hearts softened by affliction, have our hearts softened by suffering,
(23:48):
they can really tell people all that God has done
for our soul. I think there's another thing that comes
out of suffering problems that afflict us, trouble that we
have in our lives, is that causes us to realize
(24:15):
that the best is yet to be. Listen to Apostle
Paul in Second Corinthians, chapter four, starting with verse sixteen,
for which cause we think not? One translation says for
which cause we do not lose heart, which simply means
(24:37):
we don't give up, We don't throw in the towel,
We don't become so discouraged that we say, I'm just
going to turn my back on God. For which cause
we faint not well? The outward man perish. Edward man
is being renewed day by day, and the outward man
(24:57):
is perishing every day is and it's growing older. Compare
a picture of yourself today with one ten, fifteen, twenty
thirty years ago. There's a big difference, big big difference,
and the reason there's a difference is not the fault
of the camera. The difference is the fact that this
(25:21):
outward man is getting older every day, it's perishing every day,
but the inward man is being renewed and growing stronger
every day. And then Paul said, our light affliction a
light affliction. Well, Paul, you consider being stoned a light affliction?
(25:48):
Do you consider being beaten with rods a light affliction?
Do you consider being in a shipwreck a light affliction?
Consider being in apparel in the wilderness and in the city,
and being in peril everywhere you are a light affliction?
Do you can do you consider being cold and naked
(26:12):
and hungry a light affliction? How can you refer to
it as being light? It's because of that with which
he compared it, He said, our light affliction, which is
but for a moment, it's just momentary. It's just temporary,
he said, Our light affliction, which is but for a moment,
work for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight
(26:38):
of glory. You see, it was light compared to the
eternal weight of glory. Paul, realize the best is you
have to come. You're going through some valley right now,
some probably right now. Realize if you are a Christian,
the best is yet to come. God's on you. You
(27:02):
can just mark this down. God will never leave you.
God will never forsake you. Never draw near to God,
He'll draw near to you. I want to thank you
for watching Getting to Know your Bible today, and may
(27:22):
I give you a personal invitation to visit the Church
of Christ right here in your own community. If you're
not certain words located, contact us. We'll get that information
for you. And also please call for the Bible course
or take it online. And until we meet again, May
the Lord bless you. May the Lord keep you in
(27:44):
my prayer.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
Getting to Know Your Bible has been presented by Churches
of Christ. If you have a question about the church,
or if you would like the location of a Church
of Christ near you, or to receive the free Bible
course right two Getting to Know Your Bible heelbox one four, Summerdale,
Alabama three six five eight zero or call one eight
seven seven seven one one five two one four Join
(28:11):
us next time forgetting to Know your Bible.
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