Sermon Tone Analysis

*When Life Stinks*

*Selected Scripture*

* *

!! “BLESSINGS OFTEN COME IN THE MIDDLE OF A STORM”  Caption along with picture of a storm with a rainbow!!

My Life Stinks

On the outside, my life looks good.

It looks like I’ve got it all together.

Yet, on the inside, *my life stinks*.

Gas prices keep going up while the economy keeps slowing down.

There’s less money in my wallet.

My marriage is a mess and I hate my job.

Honestly, *my life stinks*.

*Life Stinks*

All of us experience times when life gets us down.

At these times the joy of the Lord seems so far away and life seems to be nothing but a struggle, but we are not alone.

Some of the greatest servants of God went through times when life seemed pointless or infuriating.

The response of God to each of these people in the midst of their despair teaches us about His character and how He desires for us to relate to Him and to each other.

*June 11, 2006*

Life Stinks: Moses, Numbers 11 - Pastor Matt Clausen

Sermon Length - 28:56

     Audio - 6.7 MB

 

*June 18, 2006*

Life Stinks: Elijah, 1 Kings 19 - Pastor Matt Clausen

Sermon Length - 27:05

     Audio - 6.2 MB

 

*June 25, 2006*

Life Stinks: Asaph, Psalm 73 - Pastor Matt Clausen

     Audio - No Digital File Available

 

*July 2, 2006*

Life Stinks: Jonah, Jonah 4 - Pastor Matt Clausen

Sermon Length - 33:59

     Audio - 7.8 MB

 

*July 9, 2006*

Life Stinks: Job, Job 3 - Pastor Matt Clausen

Sermon Length - 35:26

     Audio - Digital File Currently Unavailable

 

*July 16, 2006*

Life Stinks: The Teacher, Ecclesiastes 2 - Pastor Matt Clausen

Sermon Length - 30:21

     Audio - 7.0 MB

*http:~/~/archive.fbcminneapolis.org~/06%20archives.html*

I have heard from people, and have read people say “Life Stinks (or some form of that to a lesser or greater degree)

By Life Stinking what do we mean?

For some things are not going as they planned………..so it stinks!

Illus.

left lights on at State Fair- share experience!

For some, something bad happened……………so…………!

For some, made bad choices so bad results – thus life stinks!

If Life stinks because of our bad choices, we need to use this as a life’s lesson and make better choices.

Need to include God in our lives!

However, for those of you who are doing what you are supposed to do and all of a sudden something falls apart or goes wrong, how are we going to handle it!

How do you handle things when Life Stinks!

How do you deal with the frustrations in our life?

*God’s Word is our Strength*

                Rom 8:28 – God is aware, He is there and God is at work for our good

                James 1 -  God is growing us up even through Satan is trying to defeat us

                1 Cor 10:13 – God will not give us more than we can handle.

He will make a way of escape if we will go to him

                Heb 4: -  Jesus faced all kinds of testing yet without sin.--

He knows what we are going through- He can emphathize with us- Go to Him

*Life of Job helps*

                We can survive- Job is an example of that – He lost everything but still loved God even when he didn’t know what He was up to.

*Life of Joseph helps*

                We can survive – You may feel forgotten and all alone- Joseph felt that way

 

Life Stinks………………………when we live it without God

Rather than falling apart when life throws us a curve-  Why not ask………………….

God what are you up to in my Life?

What lesson or lessons are you trying to teach me?

If life Stinks for you – than you are not experiencing all that God has for you or approaching Life from the right attitude!

Jn 10:10 – Jesus came to give us Abundant Life!!!

!!!! *Praising God When Life Stinks*

 

!!!! Rev. Doug Pratt — February 22, 2009 \\  

Download: Praising God When Life Stinks as an MP3 file \\ (right click and save as)

*Introduction* \\ We would all love to be able to see into the future.

Imagine that six months ago we had been able to see what was about to happen.

We would have sold all our stocks and put our money in CDs and treasuries.

We would have bet on the Phillies to win the World Series, the Gators to win the college football championship, and the Steelers to win the Super Bowl.

Yes, we’d all love to know the future.

Or would we? Do we really want to know all the things that will happen to us and to those we love—even the rotten, painful, frightening things?

Or would that knowledge paralyze us?

A man with the funny name of Habakkuk, many centuries ago, actually was given by God a glimpse into his and his nation’s future.

And it was not a pretty picture at all.

In fact, things were about to become far worse than they’ve been in America recently.

His nation was about to enter a deep and desperate economic recession, complicated by a disastrous military defeat and governmental turmoil.

Things would quickly go from bad to worse to unbelievably awful.

But notice how this man Habakkuk responds to that word of warning from the Lord, as found in the closing verses of his self-titled book:

Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, 18yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior.

19The Sovereign LORD is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights.

(Habakkuk 3:17-19)

It's amazing, isn’t it?

Though life for Habakkuk and his family and friends is about to become very hard, he chooses to still praise God and trust in Him.

Those words, and the attitude and decision behind them, are going to stand as our example today.

*A Common Assumption* \\ Let’s think for a moment about a common assumption held by a large number of people.

The conventional wisdom of our day is that people are able to feel gratitude and happiness, and even to praise God, when things are going well for them personally.

But when life stinks, when things are going badly—when one is in trouble, in pain, in debt—then it’s impossible to praise God.

That’s what many people assume.

We praise, we give thanks, and we rejoice when all is well, but we feel gloom and desperation when the chart of our fortunes turns south.

The reality, however, is something quite different.

In fact, many people who find themselves in a season of prosperity and success are anything but grateful to God and brimming over with praise to Him.

Success can simply make us proud, self-centered and blind to the spiritual world.

And, in fact, many people who find themselves in hard situations are intensely close to the Lord, conscious of His presence in their lives, of His mercy and grace and sustaining power—even as they grapple with seemingly hopeless or insolvable problems.