10 Mar Pillow (Resting on the Promises of God) Part 11
Last week we began discussing how to Rest in the ultimate plan of God.
This week, let’s continue…
Remember this…the promises of God are always bigger than the problems in the world! In the Book of Proverbs, Solomon says it this way, “Guard your heart for out of it flow the issues of life” (Prov. 4:23). Jesus said it this way in the Book of John, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14:27). David tells us, “A thousand will fall by your side and ten thousand by your right hand, but it shall not come near you” (Ps. 91:8-9).
Please allow me to illustrate. We have a very special married couple who goes to Joy Church. Not too long ago, they traveled to Boston…he for business and she to support a friend who was running in the Boston Marathon. One day she decided to meet her husband for lunch, so she walked outside of her hotel and hailed a cab. No big deal, but normally she is very shy and he would always hail the cab and pick her up. However, on that day, something inside of her truly prompted her to go ahead and get a cab to meet her husband, which was very uncharacteristic for her. She boarded her cab and left to meet her husband. Ten minutes later, the now infamous bomb went off there at the Boston Marathon! She was, of course, unharmed! “A thousand shall fall by your side and ten thousand by your right hand”!
The Bible tells us in Luke 21:26-28, “Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.”
Once again, Jesus speaking and telling us in the middle of dangerous times (see II Timothy 5:1-2), you “lift up your head because your redemption draws nigh”. In other words, while the world gets crazier and crazier, and darker and darker, you lift up your head! This is not so much a literal lifting of the head, but a figurative changing of perspective. In other words, for the Christian, it simply is the birth pains of something beautiful about to be born!
Referring back to Matthew 24:8 which says, “All these things are the beginning of sorrows.” The Greek word for sorrow is “odin” which means “birth pains”. Let me illustrate. I remember twelve plus years ago our wonderful son, Johnathan, was born. His birth was supernatural! We arrived in our hospital room at 1:54am. Four pushes and literally ten minutes later, at 2:04am, Johnathan arrived! Anne had Johnathan so fast we beat the doctor! It was me, Anne and two nurses. The doctor arrived thirty minutes after the birth. When he arrived, I promptly told him, “If you were Domino’s Pizza this delivery would have been free!” He laughed and sent me the bill anyway!
While the birth pains were few, they preceded something beautiful…the birth of our son. Here the birth pains are the turmoil and upheaval you see on the earth. The beautiful thing that’s about to be born is the rapture of the church! “Well Pastor Jim, I’ve heard that for years…remember Y2K?!” Well look at it this way, if this isn’t the last generation before the rapture…it sure is your last generation!
Remember this…live like He’s coming back today. Plan like He’s not coming back for another 50 years! “Well Pastor, what if I’m bowling and Jesus comes back for the rapture of the Church. What should I do?” Let go of the ball! Plus, it’s about time you get your life out of the “gutter” anyway!
Remember…individually rest in the promises of God! Globally rest in the plan of God!