Dear BCA Family,

Few people experienced as many difficulties as the apostle Paul. His dream was to share the gospel within the Roman Empire, and he went through a lot because of it. He endured prison, flogging, shipwreck, being beaten with rods, and many other dangers in his missionary work (see 2 Cor.11:23-28). However, Paul had an excellent attitude. In his second letter to the Corinthians, he wrote, "In everything we do we show that we are God’s servants, by enduring troubles, hardships and difficulties with great patience." (2 Cor. 6:4-GN). No matter what happened, Paul relied on God and watched Him work through many circumstances.

Difficulty is Factor #4 in our current sermon series, Faith Factor: 6 Factors God Uses in Building Your Faith. We see difficulty illustrated throughout the Scriptures. Moses had his Red Sea. Joseph had his prison. David had his Saul. Nehemiah had his attackers. Daniel had his lions. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego had their fiery furnace. And it’s no different for us; we can expect to experience trouble, too. Either you just got out of it, you’re in it right now, or you’re headed for it! Fear can demoralize your heart, paralyze your soul, and monopolize your time. Storms will come to you, but you do not have to be afraid. John 16:33 reads, "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." God wants to use the difficulties in our lives to build our faith. The Perfect Storm is when you rely on God and let him grow you through it. The Bible says there are three basic principles to dealing successfully with the storms of life.

HOW TO DEAL WITH DIFFICULTY

1. DETERMINE THE REASON.
Ask yourself, "Why did this difficulty happen? What caused this problem?" There are many different causes to our problems. Some difficulties I bring on myself. Some problems are caused by other people. Some problems are allowed by God. And some problems are caused by the devil. It’s important to determine which is which. Ps. 73:16(GN)—"I tried to think this problem through, but it was too difficult for me until I went into your Temple." David is saying that he couldn’t understand his problems until he locked in with God. Take the time to talk it over with God before you go any further.

There are three common mistakes in dealing with difficulty: listening to bad advice, following the crowd, and relying on circumstances. We need to follow God’s advice, disregard the majority, and ask God what He wants instead of assuming we already know. If it is my fault, I need to repent. If it is someone else’s fault, I need to rely on God’s promises. If it is from the devil, I need to resist. If it is from God, I need to relax and grow.

2. DETERMINE THE RESULT.
Ask yourself, "What does God want me to learn?" 2 Cor. 4:17(Ph)—"These little troubles… (which are temporary) are winning for us a permanent, glorious and solid reward all out of proportion to our pain." God has a purpose for what you are going through. Problems are temporary, but the rewards of trusting God are eternal. Some of my favorite verses in the Bible are when it says "and it came to pass." Why? Because when problems come, I know they didn’t come to stay…they came to pass.

Difficulty is the development factor. You say, "What’s the result?" Let me answer with Rom. 5:3-4(LB)—"We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials for we know…they help us learn to be patient. And patience develops strength of character in us and helps us trust God more each time." Every storm is a school. Every trial is a teacher. Every experience is an education. And God uses every difficulty for my development.

God wants to teach me, develop me, and reward me when I choose to have faith through difficulty.

3. DETERMINE MY RESPONSE.
Your response is what makes or breaks you during difficulties. Because it is not so much what happens to you, but how you respond to it. What you go through is not as important as how you go through it. One thing to remember is that your problem is not the problem…your real problem is how you are going to respond to it. How are you going to react to it? What are you going to learn from it? You can take two people and put them in the exact same situation. One of them succeeds and the other one fails. One of them learns and the other one doesn’t. One of them grows better and the other one grows bitter. What is the difference? It is in the way they react. Some of you are going to face incredible difficulties next week. Don’t give up…grow up! Learn! God wants to develop your patience and strength of character, and then give you eternal rewards that far outweigh your pain.

Acts 27 details a time when Paul was an innocent victim in difficulty. He was to sail to Rome to stand trial for spreading the gospel. "Much time had been lost, and sailing had already become dangerous because by now it was after the Fast. So Paul warned them, 'Men, I can see that our voyage is going to be disastrous and bring great loss to ship and cargo, and to our own lives also.' But the centurion, instead of listening to what Paul said, followed the advice of the pilot and of the owner of the ship. Since the harbor was unsuitable to winter in, the majority decided that we should sail on, hoping to reach Phoenix and winter there." (vs.9-12). However, a great storm arose which threatened to end in a shipwreck. The sailors were wrong, and Paul was right. As the difficulty worsened, Paul responded with faith while the sailors responded with fear.

3 WRONG RESPONSES TO DIFFICULTY

1. Storms and difficulties can cause us TO DRIFT.
vs. 15--so we gave way to it and were driven along.
In other words, they finally said, "OK, we’ll just drift along with the storm." A lot of people just drift through life, lacking goals or direction, battered back and forth by the winds and waves of life. They are just coasting… and the problem with coasting is that you’re always going downhill. Their attitude is, "Life’s tough…so why try? Why make an effort? Why even put forth the energy? I’m just going to go with the flow in life." Without any purpose or objective for life, they just drift.

2. Storms and difficulties can cause us TO DISCARD.
vs. 18--…they began to throw the cargo overboard…
The sailors began to throw all of the cargo overboard to lighten the ship. Then they got rid of all of the sails and gear. They were literally living out the Discard Principle. When we are in a difficult situation, it is human nature to abandon things, people, and values that were important when things were better. We can throw away morals, values, integrity, and relationships with abandon. Our human nature tends to act impulsively and allow us give up on the dream. We throw in the towel. Run out on relationships. Forget our business or career… just throw it all away. But this is a wrong response to difficulties.

We should live instead with the Safeguard Principle, as found in verse 31—Then Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, unless these men stay with the ship you cannot be saved. So the soldiers cut the ropes that held the lifeboat and let it fall away. In other words, they left no back door to get out. They were choosing to stay on board and work together to get through the problem.

What about you? Have you cut the lifeboat on your marriage? Have you locked it and thrown away the key? Have you decided that divorce is not an option, and that you are going to stay with the ship? Hang in there! Don’t give up…grow up. Stay with your marriage. Life’s difficult in school? Stay in school. Don’t drop out. Stay with your family. Stay in that small group. Stay with church and with the Lord. I have found that it’s never God’s will to run from a difficult situation. If I don’t learn in that situation, then He just has to bring it up again at another place and time in order to teach me what He wants me to learn.

3. Storms and difficulties can cause us TO DESPAIR.
vs 20--…we finally gave up all hope of being saved.
Hope is always the last thing to go. They lost their cargo, then their food, and then their hope. And when you lose hope, you have lost it all. But God can restore hope. God says, "Don’t drift, don’t discard, and don’t despair…trust me." They had forgotten one important thing…God is in control. No situation is hopeless when you allow Christ to take it over.

THE RIGHT RESPONSE
So you are asking, "How am I going to handle the difficulties that I’m going to face when I go back to work?" You do these three things.

1. Confess my part.
If you brought this on yourself, admit it and ask forgiveness. Proverbs 28:13(LB)—A man who refuses to admit his mistakes can never be successful. But if he confesses and forsakes them, he gets another chance. You can’t deal with a problem until you admit it’s a problem. What are you pretending not to know in your marriage? Is there a big pink elephant in your living room? What are you pretending not to know in your own life? You’ve got to face it. You’ve got to deal with issues and get them out in the open. Confess your part. Don’t make excuses, and don’t blame somebody else. You say, "This is my problem…I’m going to own up to it and deal with it." Take the first step.

2. Confront the problem.
You do what you can. Paul took some practical action steps in vs. 34-36 – "Now I urge you to take some food. You need it to survive. Not one of you will lose a single hair from his head." After he said this, he took some bread and gave thanks to God in front of them all. Then he broke it and began to eat. They were all encouraged and ate some food themselves. They ate first because they hadn’t eaten much during all of the days of despairing. That’s an important point…because typically during a crisis we usually don’t get the proper rest, exercise, or food that we need. And that’s the worst thing we can do. We need to maximize our physical health when we are under stress.

Paul headed straight into the problem. Here’s the principle: Don’t fear the storm - face it. The only way to get through the storm is straight ahead. If you turn sideways, your ship is going to tip over. Face the conflict in your marriage. Face the conflict with your children. Face the conflict with your boss. Deal with it. Why? Because you rarely resolve a problem by ignoring it. You’ve got to confront the problem.

3. Claim a promise.
When you face a problem, find a promise. Find something to hang on to. There are over 7,000 promises in the Bible. Claim them as you are going through difficulties. In Paul’s situation, God did not say that the ship would make it – He said that no lives would be lost. What’s the point here? You may have to come to shore on a broken plank from your ship, but God is going to deliver you. You may have to dog paddle, but God will deliver you. None of us live whole lives…we all have areas of brokenness. That doesn’t mean He is through with us. God uses broken people. You’re going to make it to shore…but it may be on a broken piece. You may have a broken heart, but God says you’re going to make it. You may have a broken home, but God says you’re going to make it. Trust Him.

Let’s get real practical right now. Is there a storm in your life right now that is threatening to break up your ship? Has a dream been derailed due to difficulties? Difficulties are designed for your development. Don’t give up, don’t be afraid, don’t drift, don’t discard, and don’t despair. So what do you do instead? You determine the reason, the result and your response. It’s interesting as you study this passage…everything was falling apart. But Paul wasn’t. Why was he confident? Because he had his confidence in Jesus. Give your heart and storms to the Lord Jesus today.

Our teaching series continues this Sunday with FACTOR #5—KNOW WHAT TO DO WHEN PLANS FALL THROUGH. Have you ever heard anybody say that they just feel dead inside? They don’t have any feelings anymore…they have no hope. Maybe you’ve felt that way, or feel that way now. No matter how you feel, you can still trust God to fulfill His promises. Abraham knew how to keeping hoping when he had no more hope…by relying on what God had said. Romans 4:18 (Ph)—When hope was dead within him, Abraham went on hoping in faith…He relied on the Word of God. Dead ends play a role in building our faith as we see God do miracles in our lives. We can renew our hope by holding on to God’s promises, and believing that He will see us through. Join us this Sunday to be encouraged as you build your faith.

Blessings,

Pastor Rob