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[0:00] 1 Corinthians 24 verse 16 Lord, dear Lord today for everybody here for your precious word help us Lord to take it in to put it into action help us Lord to be encouraged to be stirred today Lord to be refreshed today by your word in Jesus name we pray Amen A just man forth seven times and riseth up again I want to talk about bouncing back from trouble, from discouragement from hardship you can have triumph it says that we are more than conquerors through him who loved us and someone said triumph is just oomph added to try having the oomph added to try and we can think of Habakkuk in the Old Testament it's a song that's been made into a song popularly although the fig tree shall not blossom neither shall fruit be found in the vine the labour of the olive shall fail and the field shall yield no meat the flock be cut off from the fold and there shall be no herd in the stalls yet will I rejoice in the Lord

[1:39] I will joy in the God of my salvation the Lord God is my strength and he will make my feet like hinds feet and he will make me to walk upon mine high places Habakkuk 3 verses 17 to 19 even in the darkest of times we can have real hope we can have that rejoicing no matter what the circumstance we can bounce back God can give you that ability to pick yourself up and keep on pressing on keep on rejoicing someone was telling me lately that they've been in a very dark place but they've got through to the other side and even in the dark place even though the valley of the shadow of death we can fear no evil because he is with us James 1.12 it says blessed is the man that endureth temptation for when he has tried he shall receive the crown of life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him are you enduring temptation you could use the word adversity or trial when he has tried he shall receive the crown of life you know there's some people here today you're going to get a bigger crown than me because I know some of you are doing it tougher than me and have done it tougher and you're going through it now even

[3:00] God says you're going to get a crown of life isn't that a blessing and it's going to be worth it all all that all that enduring it's going to be rewarded and sometimes life is full of these testings it could be ill health it could be relationship concerns or discouragement he has promised to them that love him a crown of life and Luke 18 Luke 18 verse 1 it says and he spoke a parable unto them to this end that men ought always to pray and not to faint and he went on to tell the story of the persistent woman and that was an illustration of how our prayer should be persistent and ongoing it should be constant that men ought always to pray and not to faint maybe feeling a bit like fainting I know there's people here they're going through the ringer at the moment they're going through this intestine and I can't fully comprehend where some people are at the challenges that you might be facing yet men ought always to pray you've always got prayer

[4:07] I know someone was telling me lately how they were prayerful and how they were in the word and yet it was still a struggle but they kept praying they kept in the word and that's what we need to do and there was a story about a church where they were in the habit of giving out food to people in need and a pastor was giving out these bags of food these lunches to people and with a little strip of paper with a scripture verse on it and one day there was this man he got a bag of food and he was rustling through the bag and searching in and digging in and the pastor thought as he came to him he thought oh he's going to come and ask about something of the food maybe there was something not in the bag that he expected and the man came to him and he said where are the words where are the words it was the scripture verse that was missing and that was what this man counted as the most important thing in his bag not so much the food as well as that might have been needed but he was glad for the words the words and like that too brother and sister it's the word that feeds us that encourages us that helps us that comforts us why art thou cast down oh my soul and why art thou disquieted within me hope in God for I shall yet praise him who is the health of my countenance and my God

[5:31] Psalm 43 verse 5 maybe that was the kind of scripture that man might have been looking for hope in God it's the word that brings hope it's like Romans 15 4 it says for whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope Romans 15 4 through endurance through patience through comfort of the scriptures we might have hope God's word it's a source of comfort isn't it it's a comfort it's a rejoicing of our heart it's a source of hope it helps you to endure when you've got those promises that you can yes that's my name in there I can put my name in there I can apply that there's some that think there's certain parts of the word that you don't need but it's all good stuff isn't it and it's all God speaking to us as though of course we know there are times when he's addressing the Old Testament saints in a particular way or his nation of Israel and yet it's all got an application it's all got a relevance to you to me and we can apply it scriptures like 2 Corinthians 4 for which cause we faint not there's that word again but though our outward man perish and we know that's true yet the inward man the inward man is renewed day by day for our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory while we look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal what are you looking at what are you looking for sometimes we spend so much of our energy and our attention on things that are temporal they're going to pass away yet we should be looking for those things that are eternal and our light affliction is just for a moment

[7:44] I mean think of it just your lifespan in contrast with eternity it's just a blink of an eye isn't it? in terms of the comparison of our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory you know there's some people here they're going to have heavier glory than they do you know they're going to have a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory those that have endured through life through the testings of time through troubles there's a weight of glory that's just around the corner for you be encouraged today you can bounce back even though for the present it might seem that light affliction doesn't seem very light it might seem pretty hard going you can bounce back from that from that failure from that defeat from setbacks from difficulty I know there's often people come to me and tell me their woes and troubles and I welcome as best as I can in my limited capacity to try to offer some assurance and some encouragement some scriptural support and there's many that have come to me talking of concerns and stresses and difficulties and worries and hardships and many have not come to me that it's apparent they have just as much too but people this morning there is a comfort for you there is a support for you there is a rejoicing for you that you can find in God's presence in God's word in his spirit you can be lifted you can bounce back from whatever's happening it's not that rubber ball bang and you catch it again it bounces back it rebounds you can rebound though you've fallen seven times yet you can rise up again you can be lifted you can bounce back and you can walk stronger and taller because of it you can have that eternal way of glory you can have that wonderful rejoicing of the things that are not seen that are going to be yours forever and that crown of life that he's promised to them

[10:01] Job 23 10 but he knoweth the way that I take when he hath tried me I shall come forth as gold I shall come forth as gold I know there's folk been telling me of their ill health and their afflictions and it's quite despairing and yet they they're hanging on they're hanging on to the promises they're hanging on to God's word they're hanging on to the Lord and it's making them hang on stronger it's making them more golden it's making them more faithful it's making them stronger maybe you're going through a tough time right now maybe you feel a bit like and I think I might have referred to this little story before but it bears repeating about Chippy the parakeet Chippy never saw it coming it was in the cage there this little parakeet and the owner thought his cage needed cleaning up and there's all this muck down in the cage so the owner came along and thought this is a good way of doing it grabbed the vacuum cleaner and started to clean the cage out and one second Chippy was peacefully perched in the cage singing a song in the air and the next second he was sucked in washed up and blown dry his problem began as the owner sucked up the seeds the phone rang and instinctively she turned it up and she had better to live when Chippy got sucked in and she gasped she let the phone drop and she switched off the vacuum cleaner with a heart in her mouth she opened the dust bag there was

[11:37] Chippy alive but stunned and covered with heavy grey dust she grabbed the bird and rushed to the bathtub turned on the force at full blast and held Chippy under the torrent of water power washing him clean poor Chippy was soaking wet and shivering so she did what any compassionate pet owner would do she snatched up the hair dryer and blasted him with hot air did Chippy survive yes he did he doesn't see much anymore he just sits on the perch and stares it's not hard to see why and life can be like that sometimes like you just before you realise it you never see it coming and suddenly swoop you know there's times it's easy to loose the song in your heart but you can bounce back you can bounce back you can be like that man in Proverbs though he falls seven times he riseth up again he riseth up again you can be it's like social workers use the phrase you can be resilient there's a resilience there's a bouncing back there's a rebound of being strong it's like those rubber band balls that you see where people wrap rubber bands over and over and the strength is at the core where there's that inner rebound there's that bounciness that comes and whether it be illness or loss or misfortune you can bounce back you can be like that rubber band ball you can regain your human shape again after you've been bent and stretched and squished by the circumstances you can like the rubber band ball at the core of that rubber band ball there's a resiliency and it builds up experience by experience just like the rubber bands build up that bounciness and you can bounce back you can bounce back for whatever's happened whatever you've gone through you can find a way of overcoming and going on again and it says in psalm 9 verse 9 who is the one who helps us the lord he is our refuge a refuge for the oppressed a refuge in times of trouble and psalm 31 15 it says my times are in thy hand and i was speaking to an elderly man and he thinks he's not got much longer to go but he said this verse he said my times are in thy hand and that's a comfort for every one of us we don't none of us know younger or older how long we have it's the younger who could leave sooner we don't know but my times are in thy hand it's like there's a poem that says my times are in thy hands my god i wish them there my life my friends my soul i leave entirely to thy care my times are in thy hands whatever they may be pleasing painful dark or bright as best as seems to thee my times are in thy hand why should i doubt or fear my father's hand will never cause his child a needless tear my times are in thy hand jesus the crucified those hands my cruel sins had pierced are now my guard and guide my times are in thy hands i'll always trust in thee and after death in thy right hand my time shall ever be my times are in thy hand have that look on life that outlook on life that really it's just a passing moment it's just as a fleeting breath really isn't it make the most of that day and help find his help in that time of trouble nahum 1 verse 7 it says the lord is good a stronghold in the day of trouble and he

[15:38] knoweth them that trust in him that's a good one to memorize isn't it that's nahum 1 verse 7 i'll say it again the lord is good a stronghold in the day of trouble and he knoweth them that trust in him he knows your name he's got it written down it's in his book and you can rebound you can pick yourself up off the floor again when you get hit by life you can bounce back there's more for you to do your times are in his hand he knows how much time you have still yet and he wants to use it wisely for his glory and see it through sometimes we wonder why am I why have I lost things it could be you've lost things you've lost people you've lost possessions you've lost material goods one by one he took them from me all the things I valued most until I was empty handed every glittering toy was lost and I walked earth's highways grieving in my ranks and poverty till I heard his voice inviting lift your empty hands to me so I held my hands toward heaven and he filled them with a store of his own transcendent riches till they could contain no more and at last

[17:05] I comprehended with my stupid mind and dull that God could not pour his riches into hands already full sometimes he's got to take for him to give and we don't understand why that might happen but that can be so the righteous fall seven times but he riseth up again you can rise up again you can have endurance to get back on the track to get back on the track I know there's people been telling me that they feel like they've failed there's something sinful happened there's something that shouldn't have happened there's something they did or didn't do that they should have done and they're feeling condemned and I try to encourage them to see as a Christian if you're truly a born again Christian as was talked about earlier that you're his child we have conviction of our sin and that's a good thing he stirs us he provokes us he arrests our attention he gets a hold of us when we do the wrong thing so we can get it right but if you're feeling condemnation that's of the enemy these people think oh

[18:19] I've lost it I'm not saved anymore you almost get to that point but if you're truly saved you're saved and there's a conviction that happens and that's God that's good and that's helpful that's God saying get back on the track again pick yourself up off the floor again it's when you get this condemnation that's the enemy trying to make you think that you're lost if you're truly saved if you've received the gift if you've held his hand if you're his son then you're his and there's an assurance there that helps us through when the trouble comes when we're feeling totally shot to pieces then we can have that assurance that we're still in his hands he's still holding us and we can have an endurance that can see us through there's a story told about a famous explorer Ernest Shackleton went to on the way to Antarctica and he had 27 men on his ship and they set off and one month one month after setting sail the ship was trapped in ice and for 10 months 10 months it was trapped and they thought that hopefully the ice would break away and they could sail on but the ice prevailed and it crushed the wooden ship to pieces and so they had to leave the ship and camp on the ice flows with no radio no polar fleece no high tech gear no real hope of getting rescued sub-zero temperatures winds gusting at 200 miles an hour five months they were there and it got worse the ice began to splinter there was no stable surface the stress crew climbed into three life boats and sailed for seven days no protection from the frigid water and air there was almost continuous darkness in this part of the world there was no comfort nothing but ice and wind a few days of rest and shackleton and five men climbed into the largest life boat they determined to cross 1,000 miles of wild currents in open sea nearly two years after they began they were heading back to where they started never to have reached the frozen continent fighting for all their lives would you be ready to give up wouldn't that be easy to give up they didn't they sailed for 15 days in the dark through a hurricane that sank a 500 tonne steamer against the navigational loss they landed they landed but on the wrong side of the island now they had to walk across a frozen plain covered in knee high deep snow over a mountain and down a glacier until three impossible days later ragged and frozen and near collapse they reached their destination meanwhile back on elephant island 21 men were living in a shelter made of two overturned lifeboats they calculated it should take four weeks for their leader to come back four months it took four months until he finally arrived in the end no one gave up no one killed anyone else they all endured they hung on now that's just a worldly story how much more you as a believer can endure can press on can press forward can maybe feeling like that parakeet sometimes but you can keep on keeping on god will help you through as philippians four verse one it says stand fast in the lord 2 Thessalonians 3 be not weary in well-doing there's times when you're going to feel totally worn out and whacked out and just exhausted and frustrated with life's experience things haven't always gone how you'd have liked them to you'll have regrets and despair and discouragement yet endure endure be not weary and we can press on

[22:17] I know our brother Peter was saying smooth seas do not make a skilful sailor and it's going to make you skilful going through those rough seas and maybe you'll look back and think wow I'm glad I got through that I'm glad that I've had that experience that now I can relate to others who likewise are going through tough things I'm grateful that I could have gone through that and I can count it a privilege that I've been strengthened through what I learned but when it's happening it's hard isn't it and sometimes we feel like just throwing it all on throwing in the towel and Carl Menninger a psychologist he was asked one day there was a crowd of people he was talking to and one of them said sir what would you advise someone to do if they felt a nervous breakdown coming on and Carl Menninger he says lock up your house go across the railroad tracks find somebody in need and help that person to overcome discouragement don't focus on yourself get involved in the lives of other people it's so true isn't it

[23:30] I know there's people in this church that care for people who are intellectually disabled what a challenge that would be what a test that would be and yet this person was saying how rewarding it is how much of a buzz they get out of it because they can help other people and sometimes that can be just what can lift our spirit too instead of focusing on our own misery think of others that are worse off than you and make their life more pleasant when life hits you hard hang on bounce back it might suck us up and wash us out and blow us dry but press on endure keep that song in your heart and you can find a wholeness in this fragmented world where we know we're just earthen vessels our outward man perishes but our inward man is renewed day by day by day and 2 corinthians 4 verse 6 it says for god who commanded the light to shine out of darkness have shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of god in the face of jesus christ but we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of god and not of us we are troubled on every side yet not distressed we are perplexed but not in despair persecuted but not forsaken cast down but not destroyed always bearing about in the body the dying of the lord jesus that the life also of jesus might be made manifest in our body get a load of that what paul said the power may be of god and not of us we are troubled on every side he didn't have an easy street paul in the bible troubled on every side yet not distressed we are perplexed perplexed but not in despair persecuted he was persecuted but not forsaken forsaken cast down but not destroyed it's not going to be easy the christian life but he will help you to overcome he will help you to rise up again he who has a why to live for can bear almost any how it's a good quote that isn't it you've got a reason to live if you've got a why to live you can bear any how it doesn't matter what happens you've got a why you've got him who makes life worth living and he will not leave you comfortless he says

[26:08] I will not leave you comfortless I will come to you and that word comfortless is the same word as an orphan he's not going to leave you as an orphan he says I will come to you he will be that father to you he will be that parent he will be that one who will come and give us comfort and closeness and if you're saved today you have a why you have a why why to live because he is life whom to know is life eternal and you can bounce back you can rise again when you've trusted God and walked his way when you felt his hand lead you day by day but your steps now take you another way start over when you've made your plans and they've got a right when you've tried your best and there's no more try when you've failed yourself and you don't know why start over when you've told your friends what you planned to do when you've trusted them and they didn't come through and now you're all alone and it's up to you start over when you've failed your kids and they've grown and gone when you've done your best but it's turned out wrong and now your grandchildren have come along start over when you've prayed to

[27:21] God so you'll know his will when you've prayed and prayed and! start over when you think you're finished and you want to quit when you're bottomed out in life's deepest pit when you've tried and tried to get out of it start over when the year has been long and success is few when December comes and you're feeling blue God gives a January just for you start over starting over means victories won it means a race well won't run it means God's will done don't just sit there start over you know friends that want to encourage you be enthused be encouraged there's a brighter day there's something worth living for there's someone worth living for you've fallen seven times yeah you're going to rise again he's going to help you he's there he's a stronghold in the day of trouble sometimes it's what we're made of that comes out of us when we're having trials too it's been said of as many scriptures that talk about as being filled or being full for example full of goodness in Romans 15 14 full of goodness if you're full of something think of it like a sponge that's saturated with water when you press the sponge the water comes out and like that too when you're pressed like a sponge let

[28:47] Christ come out of your life let him be the one what fills you on the inside is going to come out under pressure perhaps you're feeling a bit like chipping the parakeet maybe you could think there's a young soldier huddled in a foxhole!

[29:08] he hadn't had much mail for a period of time for many weeks and someone handed him a letter here's a letter for you soldier here he was in the foxhole thought oh great even in imminent danger he was delighted to get something from the homeland he quickly ripped open the envelope and he burst out laughing as he read the message from a business establishment in his hometown your account is seven days overdue if the balance of $25 is not paid in seven days you'll be in serious trouble sometimes it's relative isn't it we think we're in trouble we're going through the ringer and yet there's always others that are worse off than we are God makes no mistake just a closing little pile and I was giving you lots of little piles today they're all quite meaningful

[30:09] I think and they touched me when I read them he maketh no mistakes my father's way may twist and turn my heart may throb and ache but in my soul I'm glad I know he maketh no mistake in my cherished plans may go astray my hopes may fade away but I'll still trust my Lord to lead for he doth know the way though night be dark and it may seem that day will never break I'll pin my faith my all in him he maketh no mistake there's so much I can't see my eyesight far too dim but come what may I'll simply trust and leave it all though dark to me he maketh not one mistake he's got your future in his hand he knows the way you're going to take before you're even going to take it and it says for a just man falleth seven times and riseth up again rise up again today bounce back today let us pray

[31:13] Lord we thank you that we can have victory we can have that overcoming power whatever comes our way Lord it's hard when we know we're encountering trouble whether it be losses or grief or hardship of sickness or concerns or discouragement whether people have let us down whether we're feeling aggrieved for whatever reason of hurts and hardships Lord we know that you know what you're doing Lord in my times you're in thy hand we can all say that that you are there Lord and our hand is in your hand today Lord help us to walk with you whatever life throws our way that we might find that inner strength that resilience that rebounding that we might find that which lifts us back up on our feet again help us Lord to start over help us Lord to see that each day is a new opportunity to live for you to make each moment count

[32:15]  Lord while we still have that precious time that you give to us as well as that gift of salvation you've given us