Smoothing Out The Rough Roads, Part 2

Today on Fellowship in the Word, Pastor Bill Gebhardt challenges you to become a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ.

And when you're gone, the kids are focused. You know, are we there yet? Are we there yet?

But the point is, it's there. We can't wait to get there. You know, once we're going to get when we're there, this is going to be great. We're Disney World. Now to drive home is something completely different. But the drive there, because they're so excited about the destination. But look, why aren't we?

I mean, we're going to the real Magic Kingdom here. Thank you for joining us today on this edition of Fellowship in the Word with Pastor Bill Gebhardt. Fellowship in the Word is the radio ministry of Fellowship Bible Church located in Metairie, Louisiana.

Let's join Pastor Bill Gebhardt now as once again, he shows us how God's word meets our world. Think of the disciples in Mark, Chapter four. They're fishermen. They go out to see a Galilee and the storm is unbelievable. They believe as fishermen, they're all going to perish. They're all going to die in the storm.

All right. And meanwhile, Jesus is in the stern underneath in the ship, little boat, and he's sound asleep. OK, now he's with them. You see, there's his presence. Did he promise them anything?

Yes. What do you say to him? We're going over to the other side. Now, when God incarnate says we're going over to the other side, where are we going?

See, but they don't believe that. So they wake him up and they say, don't you care that we're perishing? And he just looked at them and said, wow, you men of what? Little faith. And then he just looked at the scene and went.

Be still. Wow, they find out that the road went from rough to smooth, just like that. But they didn't pass the test.

They didn't do well with this at all. They they got preoccupied with the storm instead of preoccupied with the sleeping Lord you see in the boat. So that's ends up what's happening. God says, look, I want you to understand this. Look at verse thirty five of Chapter eight.

Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Well, tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril of the sword. By the way, those are all rough roads.

Every single one of those is a really, really rough road. He said, will that happen? He said, look, first thirty seven in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through him who loved us. We will prevail.

He said we overwhelmingly conquer. He said, I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present or things that come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any created thing will ever be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. What's Paul saying? I believe in the presence and the promise of God. You see, I believe in the presence and in the promise of God.

What's that create for Paul? Peace. That's peace. How much peace do you have in a rough road situation in your life? Because I'm telling you, if you don't have any peace, you don't believe this. You don't have any peace. He says, look, I'm right here. I can do this for you.

I can handle this for you. The second shock absorber is our our focus must be on our destination, not the trip or the rough road. We have to focus on the destination as believers. We see this over and over in the word of God. Look at Romans eight and verse 18. Notice what Paul says here. He said, I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. It's real simple to him. Now watch. I consider that the sufferings, that's a rough road of this present time, are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is going to be revealed to us.

What's he doing? He said, I'm focused on the destination. Now go with me to Second Corinthians, chapter four. Second Corinthians four.

And notice how he picks up the same idea and what he says. He says. Therefore, verse 16, he says, Therefore, he said, We do not lose heart. By the way, what's one of the first things you do on a rough road? Lose heart. Oh, boy. What am I going to do?

How am I going to get out of this? You see, we lose heart. We're bouncing all around. You see, all we have is the body on the frame on an old dirt road. All we're doing is bouncing around. We don't even need dirt roads in New Orleans. The roads are bad enough here.

Just imagine what it'd be like to live in Lakeview without shock absorbers. He says, Therefore, we do not lose heart, but though the outer man is decaying at the inner man is being renewed day by day. Paul's a little bit further down in his life now, and he he tells all of us something that until you get old enough, you won't understand.

But once you're old enough, this verse is true, isn't it? The outer man's decaying. You can't stop it. We call it aging.

There's nothing we can do. But notice what he says about the rough road for momentary light affliction is producing for us the eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison again. While we look not at the things which are seen, that's the rough road, but with the things are not seen.

That's God for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things that are not seen are eternal. He said, I just focus on the destination. I was trying to think of how would be a good way to give a good illustration of this.

Here's what I think would work. Have you ever driven from New Orleans to Disney World with kids in your car? I mean, when it and when you're going, the kids are focused. You know, are we there yet? Are we there yet?

But the point is, it's there. We can't wait to get there. You know, once we're going to get when we're there, this is going to be great. We're Disney World now to drive home something completely different.

But the drive there because they're so excited about the destination. Well, look, why aren't we? I mean, we're going to the real Magic Kingdom here. You see, why aren't we? You see, why aren't we?

To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. The worst thing that could happen to us can't happen to us. You see, I read the end of the book. We win.

All those things are the same thing. The destination. It will be worth it all when we see Jesus. Why isn't that our perspective when the road gets rough? Why aren't we focused on the destination?

That's the second thing that he tells us. The third shock absorber that he tells us is that we need to focus on all the good things and the blessings God has given us in this life. We need to think about all the good. You see, once the road gets rough, all we think about what's rough.

But we don't think about all the good things that God has for us. Again, I want to go back to Ecclesiastes chapter nine. Solomon again, back where we started Ecclesiastes nine, but this time in verse seven.

See, what Solomon says is, as I try to think about life and the big things of the meaning of life and how important it is and all that. Now, remember, Solomon is a guy that already knows that everything that everyone else says is important isn't. You see, he knows that. He's wealthy beyond belief. He's done all kinds of projects.

He has an amazing reputation with everybody. He's tried every pleasure that the world offers in spades. He has tried everything. He said all of it is vanity.

None of it produces what you should have. See, he realized that without God, nothing else matters. So here's what his conclusion is about our temporal life, though, starting in verse seven. He said, Go then eat your bread and happiness and drink your wine with a cheerful heart. For God has already approved your work.

Enjoy your life. This is the good parts. Notice, he says, let your clothes be white all the time and let not the oil be lacking on your head. What he means there is whenever you're going to go out in that world, you put on your white clothes. You see, it's hard to keep clothes white in that world, but you put on your and you anoint your head with oil.

You're looking pretty good. He said, Yeah, do that. Then he says this. Enjoy life with the woman whom you love all the days of your fleeting life, which is given to you under your sun. I love that. Just enjoy your spouse. God's giving his spouse enjoy the spouse. By the way, that's a man who had a thousand wives and concubines who wrote that.

Interesting, huh? He realized he had missed something. He says, Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might. For there is no activity or planning or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol where you're going. This is your only shot. Whatever you do, do it with all your might. See, in carpe diem, seize the day.

Enjoy the day. The old hymn, count your blessings, name them one by one, instead of saying what you don't like about the road. And we don't do this. If we have two or three things that are aggravating us, that's all we talk about and think about.

We have 100 great things and we don't think about or talk about those at all. He says you have to do that. That's what you have to do. You see, I don't have to know where the road is going. To enjoy the ride.

I don't have to. My goal is not to know every detail about my future. My goal is to hold the hand of the one who does.

Stay close to him. He knows where I'm going. You see, I want to be part of today. I want to count my blessings. So God's presence and God's promise to keep your eye on the destination, count your blessings in the present. And the last thing.

Well, you know, one more thing I want to say about that third point. I want you to see it from a different point of view. I want to go to Philippians chapter four. Philippians four.

Paul brings this into the New Testament. And this is important for us because he's on a rough road. He's in jail. More likely, he thinks he's going to be executed. He gets out this time and the next time he goes in, they execute him anyway. But he's in a rough road.

When you have a rough road, what would be worse than being incarcerated, waiting a death sentence? He said, that's where I'm at. So he said, I'll write a letter to the Philippians why I'm in here. And guess what the theme of the letter is?

Joy. How do you do that? You see, how can you do that? Don't you understand? He goes, Yeah, I fully understand. He said, But God, understand, I write on shock absorbers.

It looks rough to you, but not to me. I see things differently. Notice what he says in verse four. He says, Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I say, rejoice. He said, Look, I need you to be as joyful as I am.

Joy. He said, Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near.

Well, he's got the shock absorbers. So then he says this. Be anxious for nothing. So how many things do Paul worry about? Nothing.

Would that describe you? You see what I mean? But it can be anxious for nothing. He said in everything by prayer and supplication. That's the prayer and the emotional content of the prayer. With Thanksgiving, let your request be known to God.

Pour your heart out to God. He said, But I got to tell you something. If you're going to use it as a shock absorber, you have to thank God before he answers. The reason you thank God before he answers, it takes faith to thank God before he answers. You see, because here's the point, if God says yes.

And that's the answer you want, right? Then you thank God. But shouldn't you thank God if he says no. Or wait.

Who? See, if you say no, that's that's not a good answer. Then what you're saying is he's not a good God. But he's God and he is good. He says, I thank him right now.

That's what Paul says. Now, notice as he goes on, then he says, look, let me tell you my mental framework. Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute.

If there's any excellence in anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. In the middle of a rough road. Do you do that? I find this is difficult sometimes.

You know, I but it can be done. I don't know about you, but sometimes if I wake up in the middle of the night, no matter what the elements are, the rough road gets where my mind goes. Right to the rough road. Oh, boy. Poor me. This is awful. I feel terrible.

You know what, though? What's happened to me over this last couple of years have changed in that area a lot. In the middle of the night, I just look at my wife laying there. And I start thanking God. I still have her. We still have the relationship.

I have other people that love me. And I start thinking that way. And you know what happens when I do that? I go to sleep. And if I don't, I lay awake. You see, I mean, it really it's how you think. You see, it's how you think. So he says that now notice.

He says in verse 10. But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at last you have revived your concern for me. Indeed, you were concerned before, but you lacked opportunity.

Not that I speak from one. I've learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. You got to love this verse. If you understand the context, Paul says, you know what's so joyful about being in prison, waiting a death sentence.

You guys heard about it and you love me and you want to help me. Isn't that great? He said, I know you always wanted to help me, but now you have an opportunity because you think I might be going out. He said, isn't that great? Wow. You see how Paul works?

He's a man without anxiety or worry. You see, earlier in the letter, he's asked if you had a choice, Paul, would you rather be able to stay alive and do ministry or would you rather be dead and go with the Lord? So I haven't thought about that, but thinking about it, I'd rather be dead and go with the Lord. That's the destination. But he said, for your sake, if the Lord wants me here, I'll be glad to stay. Now, if that's what you really believe, what can life do to you? Nothing.

You see, I imagine when they sentenced Paul and said, I've got to tell you, Paul, it didn't work out, you're going to be beheaded. He said, let's just get on with it then. I'm not afraid.

You see, he has these shock absorbers, they work for him. Notice, he said, I've learned the secret of being content in whatever circumstances I'm in. I learned how to get along in humble means.

I know how to live in prosperity in any and every circumstance. I've learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering. What is the secret, Paul? Verse 13, I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

There's my secret. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. You see, I believe in the presence and power of God in my life. Where did Paul get those thoughts from? Not from Paul, he got them from Christ. You see, he got them from the Spirit of God. He got them from God.

That's why he could do it. He said, I can do all things through him who strengthens me. Paul, how do you get your mind focused just on what the good, the honorable, the pure? He said, he puts my mind on that.

I just trust him. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. You see, Paul understood how important this is to focus on the good things of life. And so what you have is God's presence and God's power create peace. The focus on the destination creates hope. And now being preoccupied with the good things that are in your life now, the blessings you have now, that produces joy.

And then the last one, we need to find comfort in God's presence because he loves us so much. Go with me to 1 Peter, chapter 5. And by the way, once again, if you know the Bible, what's the theme of 1 Peter? Suffering. It's about rough roads. The whole book, the whole epistles about the rough roads of life.

Notice what he says then in verse seven. He says, casting all your anxiety on him. Noted casting it all on him. All your anxiety, all your work.

Give it all to God. Well, and why? Well, because he's God. He can handle it. He could say that, but that's not what he says. He says, casting all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. It's an amazing thought.

I don't know if you think about it. I think about it quite often, but I'm often, how could he love me like that? But he does. He loves you the same way.

I mean, when you think about it, that's an amazing thing. He's always loved you, and he always will. There's nothing you could do to ever make God love you more, and there's nothing you could do to ever make him love you less. He just loves you. He said, you give me the anxiety. I love you. How many parents would want to be able to take the anxiety of a child onto themselves so the child could have peace?

All of us would. God says, I'll do that for you because I care for you. I mean, that's an amazing thing when you think about it. I love the passage. I say it often in the Old Testament when Isaiah says, I've written your name on my hand.

I just love that. What's he mean? That's how personal this is to me. You see, nobody on earth loves me as much as God does, or you. That should give us, cast your cares on me. He said, I'll take them. Just cast your cares on me. He said, I'll take them. Rough roads are going to come.

You see, he said, be one of a sober spirit. Be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion. He's seeking someone to devour.

What's that mean? Rough roads. You and I have an enemy who's real and powerful, and there's another thing he knows about you. He knows your weakness. And so he'll work you over. But notice, he said, resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world.

It's not hard for it. Look, rough roads are coming to all of us. Believers have had rough roads for 2,000 years. Christians have been martyred in every generation worldwide.

It's always been rough. Notice what he says in verse 10 then. After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace who called you to his eternal glory in Christ will himself perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever.

Amen. He goes into a doxology. God says, I got this.

Give it to me, because I love you. And so we see how this works. God gives us four shock absorbers. He won't smooth the road out necessarily. But you don't have to bounce around. You see, you can have a smooth ride. You have to believe in God's presence and God's promise.

You have to focus on the destination, not the trip. You have to be thankful for the blessings that God has put in your life and the good things in your life right now. And you have to remember just how much God loves you. I don't want to be a bear of bad news, but you've got rough roads ahead of you.

And so do I. And you're going to have a choice to make. And you can become frightened. You see, you can become frightened. You can worry. You can be full of anxiety and fear.

And you can even become bitter. Or you can allow these shock absorbers to change you. And instead of being all those things, you'll be a person that has peace beyond all understanding, hope, certitude of the future, joy in the moment of the circumstances, and the comfort of the love of God. That's what he's provided for us.

Thank God for his shock absorbers. Let's pray. Father, this is a difficult area for us as believers because when the road is smooth, we will listen.

We're happy we're listening. We get reinforced by the truth. But the problem is when the road gets rough, Father, we forget the truth. We become preoccupied with the suffering and the pain. And we allow the bumps in the road to set a framework of the way we approach our lives. And we become frightened and full of anxiety and worry. And eventually, Father, we become bitter. Father, I pray that we don't let that happen to us, that I have prayed that we understand your relationship with us, that you will not necessarily take us off of the rough road, but you will make our ride smooth if we just apply these principles for our good and for your glory.

In Christ's name, amen. Open the Word online. At that website, you will find not only today's broadcast, but also many of our previous audio programs as well. At Fellowship in the Word, we are thankful for those who financially support our ministry and make this broadcast possible. We ask all of our listeners to prayerfully consider how you might help this radio ministry continue its broadcast on this radio station by supporting us monthly or with just a one-time gift. Support for our ministry can be sent to Fellowship in the Word 4600 Clearview Parkway, Metairie, Louisiana 7006. If you would be interested in hearing today's message in its original format, that is as a sermon that Pastor Bill delivered during a Sunday morning service at Fellowship Bible Church, then you should visit our website, fbcnola.org.

That's fbcnola.org. At our website, you will find hundreds of Pastor Bill's sermons. You can browse through our sermon archives to find the sermon series you are looking for, or you can search by title. Once you find the message you are looking for, you can listen online, or if you prefer, you can download the sermon and listen at your own convenience. And remember, you can do all of this absolutely free of charge. Once again, our website is fbcnola.org. For Pastor Bill Gebhardt, I'm Jason Gebhardt, thanking you for listening to Fellowship in the Word. .