Final week of series A TWISTED TRUTH
- A lie that contains just enough truth to confuse you
Talked about:
- TEMPTATION
- IDENTITY
Disappointment
- What do we do when life has let us down?
Disappointment is when our expectations, hopes, or dreams don’t match our reality
Disappointment has 2 Twisted Truths
The first one says…
CAN I TRUST GOD?
- Does God love me?
- Is this what God’s best for me looks like?
2nd says…
If God loved me, He wouldn’t make me go through hard things
- Why this circumstance
- Why this outcome
- Why this challenge
First TWISTED TRUTH
CAN I TRUST GOD?
Not the first to ask this question…
- Adam and Eve
- Cain
- Abraham and Hagar
- Judas
For each one, it resulted in disaster…
Jesus teaching a large group and his disciples…
- He is the bread of life
John 6
47 “Truly I tell you, anyone who believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven so that anyone may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread he will live forever. The bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
52 At that, the Jews argued among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life in yourselves. 54 The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day, 55 because my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink.
Disappointment
- This guy is crazy
- This isn’t a leader, he’s a lunatic
John 6:67-69
60 Therefore, when many of his disciples heard this, they said, “This teaching is hard. Who can accept it?”
61 Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, asked them, “Does this offend you? 62 Then what if you were to observe the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? 63 The Spirit is the one who gives life. The flesh doesn’t help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. 64 But there are some among you who don’t believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning those who did not believe and the one who would betray him.) 65 He said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted to him by the Father.” 66 From that moment many of his disciples turned back and no longer accompanied him.
MANY left – just over a teaching
Jesus was speaking to the REAL PROBLEM
- Sin
But not the problem they wanted him to solve
The “TRUST” Problem
“I don’t know if I TRUST what this guy is saying…”
- I don’t think I trust his teaching
Jesus then asks an IMPORTANT question…
67 So Jesus said to the Twelve, “You don’t want to go away too, do you?”
68 Simon Peter answered, “Lord, to whom will we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”
This is the challenge of every individual…
If you can’t trust God, then in what or whom can you trust?
What are your other options?
- Yourself?
- Other religions?
David said…
Psalm 20:7 (ESV)
Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.
- Trust in our own intuition?
- Trust in the things we’re building around us?
- Trust our power?
We can’t place our trust in anything that can be taken away from us
God’s answer to Job
Job 38
1 Then the Lord answered Job from the whirlwind. He said: 2 Who is this who obscures my counsel with ignorant words?
3 Get ready to answer me like a man; when I question you, you will inform me.
4 Where were you when I established the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. 5 Who fixed its dimensions? Certainly you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it?
God can be trusted because He sees everything, knows everything, and makes the best decisions for me
2nd twisted truth of Disappointment…
If God loved me, He wouldn’t make me go through hard things
Hebrews 11
1 Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen. 2 For by this our ancestors were approved. 3 By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.
- Abel
- Enoch
- Noah
- Abraham
- Sarah
13 These all died in faith, although they had not received the things that were promised. But they saw them from a distance, greeted them, and confessed that they were foreigners and temporary residents on the earth. 14 Now those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 15 If they were thinking about where they came from, they would have had an opportunity to return. 16 But they now desire a better place—a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
- Moses
- Jericho
- Rahab
32 And what more can I say? Time is too short for me to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets, 33 who by faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the raging of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, gained strength in weakness, became mighty in battle, and put foreign armies to flight. 35 Women received their dead, raised to life again. Other people were tortured, not accepting release, so that they might gain a better resurrection. 36 Others experienced mockings and scourgings, as well as bonds and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned, they were sawed in two, they died by the sword, they wandered about in sheepskins, in goatskins, destitute, afflicted, and mistreated. 38 The world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and on mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground.
39 All these were approved through their faith, but they did not receive what was promised, 40 since God had provided something better for us, so that they would not be made perfect without us.
How do we “Keep The Faith”
Hebrews 12
12 Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, 2 keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Disappointment is an OPPORTUNITY to better align our expectations with God’s Heavenly reality
- Greater things to come
- It’s gonna be alright in the end