Resilience
by Darrell W. Johns
Atlanta West Pentecostal Church (Lithia Springs, GA)
Kind: sermon
Scripture: Micah 7:8, Proverbs 24:16, Proverbs 24:17-18, 1 Peter 4:12-13, Genesis 6:13, John 16:33, 1 Peter 5:10, Philippians 1:6, Romans 8:28, 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24, Jude 1:24-25, Micah 1:1, Micah 7:1-6, Psalms 142:4, Micah 7:7, Psalms 27:1, Isaiah 9:2, John 1:4-5, 2 Peter 1:19, Revelation 21:25, Revelation 22:5

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/darrell-w-johns--resilience
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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micah 7 8 you'll recognize this first most of you will rejoice not against me o mine enemy when i fall i shall arise when i sit in darkness the lord shall be a light unto me i want to speak to you on the subject of resilience god bless you please be seated i've taught this theme at least twice in our church most recently in 2016 and family matters tonight i'll take a considerably different approach different context content i'm going to focus on the book of micah a little bit more but the idea is the same when you think and talk about resilience and the concept in the bible resilience is not a bible word when i was a kid we had a toy that consisted of a paddle and a ball connected by a rubber band it was called appropriately a paddle ball and no matter how hard you hit the ball within reason the ball would come rebounding back to you it was resilient it would come back to you it was possible and still is possible to miss the paddle and hit your face i ordered this paddle ball and arrived yesterday i practiced a little bit with it yesterday and decided that i would not show off tonight it came in a two-pack before church no you really don't before church i was hoping maybe some spiritual gift to come to me between yesterday and today so i i tried to paddle ball out in my office and it was a fail now i know how people are and some of you right now are wanting me to ask for volunteers to come to the platform and show us how it's done i'm not going to do that i don't mind embarrassing myself but i really don't want to be humiliated in front of all of our children that are in here tonight so after church after the altar after the spirit is departed if you would like to try your hand at the paddle ball you can but it has this elasticity that's what makes it resilient ball is rubber but the rubber band doesn't break it's not a string it's made of rubber or some type of rubber material so it bounces back i have seen people who were very brittle and when life hit them they went flying somewhere into the cosmos never to return and they were brittle when they hit and splatted and plopped and i've also seen people go through some of the most unspeakable grief in their life difficult situations that we cannot even fathom and they have the ability in them i believe that is given by god and cultivated by spiritual growth they have the ability to bounce back when we say resilience it is the power or ability to return to the original form or position after being bent compressed or stretched resilience is an elasticity that's the ability to rebound after you've been bounced away in life in life resilience is the ability to bounce back from failure adversity and hardship resilience is the ability to get up again after you've fallen or have been knocked down the person who is resilient may be knocked down but they just keep getting back up again the bible gives us a little encouragement along this line in proverbs 24 16 for a just man falleth seven times and riseth up again but the wicked shall fall into mischief now i know that it is possible for us to sin and god is faithful and just to forgive us our sins if we confess and forsake our sins but proverbs is not talking about falling into sin in fact if you read the context of proverbs 24 it speaks of not a wicked man not laying weight to go attack a just man and knock him down there is this warning that if you go knock down a just man he's just going to get back up again you can knock him down seven times but he's resilient and he's going to rise back up again rejoice not when thine enemy falls and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles lest the lord see it and it displease him and he turns away his wrath from him you may have an enemy you shouldn't maybe but if you have an enemy that's a really bad person proverbs 24 teaches that you shouldn't rejoice when the bad guy gets in trouble or because of your wrath against that person god may not like your wrath and he may avert the punishment that's what proverbs 24 18 says now i grew up on proverbs i want to throw this in for good measure not part of my message but i just felt recently that i need to return to reading a proverb a day so i'm going to try to do that over and over proverbs is a book practical wisdom and if you think you're wise and you really need to read proverbs because you're probably not and it will be a blessing to you the principle of resilience is in the bible in many places the bible encourages us that by grace and by grit and i say the title of that bible lesson from a few months ago on purpose because you can't expect god to do it all if you're not willing to do your best but god does not expect you to do what you cannot do so he gives grace to the humble and if you will be determined to be resilient god will give you the grace if you will provide the grit if you will make up your mind that by the grace of god you will never let anything cause you to stumble and be lost god will always allow you to bounce back even when you've been knocked down now i taught an entire series on message a message to messages to the dispersed church but i want to remind you that struggle and suffering should not be strange to us first peter 4 12. beloved think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you as some strange thing has happened unto you but rejoice now the bible often attaches rejoicing with suffering rejoicing with trouble they don't really go together outside of the christian life but even in times of struggle suffering and trial we have a reason to rejoice so the apostle peter writes but rejoice in as much as you are partakers of christ's sufferings that when his glory shall be revealed you may be glad with exceeding joy so here's the revelation life is not easy how about that for church on wednesday night we live in a hostile environment of sickness and sin and noah's day i've been thinking about this lately in noah's day the bible said that the earth was filled with violence god said in genesis 6 13 said to noah the end of all flesh has come up before me for the earth is filled with violence through them and behold i will destroy them with the earth noah's day was violent now i know jesus said that is in the days of noah shall shall it be in the coming of the days of the son of man but he was referring to life rocking on as normal they ate and drank married were given in marriage until the day that noah entered into the ark and the flood came and took them all away life rocked on but also in noah's day it was violent and we live in a violent world and it seems that now justice is falling in the street truth is turned away backward and and you know there's kind of a turning away from from ungodliness and sin and lawlessness which only kind of genders more violence in our world our world is a lot like noah's day and in addition to all of that we happen to have an enemy of our soul satan who is like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour so we live in an environment where we need to not be naive and spiritually whistle in the dark as if there's nothing there amen we don't rejoice knowing that our lives will be marked with struggle and trouble and trials and difficulty but we have hope by what jesus said in john 16 33 these things i have spoken unto you that in me jesus said you might have peace in the world you shall have tribulation notice what jesus said in me you can have peace because in the world you're going to have trouble but even though you have trouble in the world you can have peace in me they can coexist while there is tribulation in the world there can be peace in the mind and heart of a believer amen in this world you shall have tribulation but be of good cheer there's another time when the bible puts cheer and trouble in the same verse be of good cheer i have overcome the world implying that if i have overcome the world i will make you overcomers in me and me you have peace in the world you have trouble rejoice because i have overcome the world amen the cheer is not in the trouble but the cheer isn't overcoming and it is in our relationship with jesus christ but god is not absent from the conflict that we face in our lives and in the world as always god is working in our trouble and through our trouble to help us overcome and in the process to be more like him his character is shaped in us as we go through fiery trials that purge out stuff in us that is not like god all the old testament illustrations in proverbs of silver and gold that are tried by fire like our faith that comes forth as pure goal it is not destroyed by the fire it is purified by the fire job thought about what happened after death he said there the wicked sees from troubling and the weary be at rest job said it would be better for me to die there's no bad guys there where i'm going to trouble me and everybody that's weary will be resting he sang a song when i was in bible college the wicked shall cease from troubling and the weary shall be at rest and all the saints of the ages sit at his feet and be blessed god is working in us through the trouble in our lives and through the right response to hardship that you're facing jesus is becoming stronger in your life you're becoming more like him the apostle peter taught that after after you suffer a while he's going to make you perfect or mature he's going and i love these three words in in first peter chapter 5 verse 10 he will establish you and the king james it doesn't say established but it means the same thing he's going to establish you he's going to strengthen you and he's going to settle you jesus is at work in your life and the apostle paul said in philippians 1 and 6 these verses are not on the screen on purpose there's a lot of verses being confident of this very thing that he that hath begun a good work in you will perform it or will complete it will continue to do it until the day of jesus christ he's not going to abandon you halfway through he brought us out of sin to bring us in to the land of promise and ultimately to heaven amen romans 8 28 this is one of those most quoted verses that we sometimes seem to think is not really right when we get in a problem and we know that all things work together for good to them that love god to them that are the called according to his purpose i think it's true to say that not all things are good but god works all things for good like joseph would say to his brothers you meant it unto me for evil but god meant it unto me for good to save much people alive as it is this day so no matter what you try to do that's why we have the promise that no weapon formed against us shall prosper the bible said that the arrow that is shot toward us is turned around into the heart of the shooter amen that the thing that was meant to destroy us will strengthen us amen and then first thessalonians 5 23 paul said in the very god of peace sanctify you holy w-h-o-l-l-y i pray god your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless under the coming of our lord jesus christ faithful is he that calleth you who will also do it in other words he started it he will finish it so whatever you face in your life you can face it with peace in your relationship with jesus christ you can face it with rejoicing that you will overcome whatever comes against you and i love jude 1 24 and 25. now under him that is able to keep you from falling that doesn't mean to trip once in sin that doesn't mean to get knocked down in the struggles of life that just means to eternally fall he's able to keep you from falling in your relationship with god from falling away and to present you thoughtless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy and then he tells us how it's going to happen to the only wise god our savior be glory and majesty dominion and power both now and ever amen last wednesday night i taught on living with loss and there may be times in your life when you feel like you can't get up and you can't go on there may be times when you think you can't make it but you can i was thinking about simon peter when he saw jesus walking in the water he said lord if it's you bid me come to you on the water and and jesus said come and and so here goes simon peter but you know he took his eyes off jesus he saw the winds and the wave boisterous and beginning to sink so when he took his eyes off the lord and he looked at the storm he lost his faith and he began to sink but as jesus always does and always will in your life the bible said while peter was thinking that immediately jesus stretched forth his hand and caught him and said to him oh of little faith why did you doubt and when they were coming to the ship the wind ceased so when you make an attempt to live for god and you just kind of fail and look at the storm and start to sink don't think that the lord is going to watch you go down and let you drown he loves you amen i think god is proud of us when we take a step of faith amen that we can rebound praise god we can have a spirit of resilience in us micah knew what it was like to sink into despair when he saw the decline of his culture micah is not a spiritual lightweight he's not a weakling it's not just an emotional unstable and spiritual spiritual baby micah is a prophet he's a man of god and i say that it really wasn't in my notes but i thought of this as we were worshiping or maybe just before church perhaps it just came to me that i needed to let you know that sometimes we think people who struggle are just weak they're just not as spiritual as you are but micah is a strong man spiritually he's a godly man he's a prophet but micah is still struggling micah's name means who is like jehovah but when you read the book that bears his name you might ask who in the world is like jehovah except micah doesn't look like many other people are micah tells us when he prophesied and why this book was written the word of the lord came unto micah the morris shite in the days of jotham ahaz and hezekiah kings of judah that's when he wrote he is somewhat of a contemporary of isaiah the book of isaiah is considered a might a major prophet micah because of its length is considered a minor prophet just because of the length of the book but there's somewhat contemporaries and there's some similar phraseology in isaiah and micah and he writes about samaria in jerusalem and he tells them that god is witnessing against them and god is going to come out of his place he's going to judge them tread down the high places the mountains are going to melt under him the valleys are going to divide under him and it's because of the transgressions of jacob which is kind of a way of saying the people of god israel or or judah in this case perhaps because of their sins and the lord is going to judge them because of the way they're living the capital of the northern tribes of samaria and jerusalem there where these sins are being committed both the northern and southern kingdoms they've got graven images and the lord says they're going to beat down be beat down by the judgments of god so here's micah he's living in this time prior to the captivity he's prophesying in times of intense social injustice that's going on there's a lot of bad stuff happening in micah's world there are false prophets that are preaching for riches rather than because of righteousness they're princes that thrive on cruelty and violence and corruption they're priests that are ministering more for greed than they are for god they are landlords that are stealing land from poor people and evicting destitute widows from their homes this is happening in the book of micah they are judges that are lusting after bribes and perverting justice they're businessmen that are using deceitful scales and wrong wages or weights rather to rip off their customers if you're a business person and you use practices that are unethical and ungodly that's a sin i just thought i'd throw that in sin and he'll infiltrated every segment of society and a word from god was mandatory from the prophet micah so micah in his book he enumerates the sins of the nation sins that will ultimately lead to their destruction and captivity you know for 70 years but in the midst of this darkness micah gives us of course this word of hope that a divine deliverer will appear in righteousness will ultimately prevail and though justice is trampled under foot one day truth will triumph micah tells us that in this short book micah 7 is kind of the heart of the book i want us to go to micah 7 and micah paints a really bleak picture of a man who's facing major disappointments in his life do i'll be reading these verses or not all on the screen be reading from the new living translation just to kind of make it flow in modern terminology this is what micah says how miserable i am i'm like the fruit picker after the harvest you can find nothing to eat not a cluster of grapes or a single early fig can be found to satisfy my hunger the godly people have all disappeared not one honest person is left on the earth now let me just pause to say right here remember when when elijah felt that same way kind of a distorted perception of reality in micah's mind there's not one one there's not one micah said there's not one honest person left on the earth now you know that's not true but micah believes it fully in his mind they are all murderers really setting traps even for their own brothers both their hands are equally skilled in doing evil they're like the tribe of benjamin they can sling a stone with either hand they can fight left-handed or right-handed these guys are bad guys with both hands micah says they're really skilled at doing evil officials and judges alike demand bribes i mentioned some of these things kind of in an overview the people with influence get what they want and together they scheme to twist justice even the best of them is like a briar the most honest is as dangerous as a hedge of thorns but your judgment day is coming swiftly now your time of punishment is here a time of confusion and then micah gives you some really good advice maybe not really micah says don't trust anyone not your best friend or even your wife for the son despises his father the daughter defies her mother the daughter-in-law defies her mother-in-law your enemies are right in your own household i don't know about you but that sounds like the book of job almost right let's throw that over in job and it fits right in moses i mean micah you know this this society is living in this culture is on a collision course with the judgments of god and calamity micah sees it coming he's trying to preach to hold it back and bring the people to repentance he's in despair but but he doesn't totally give up and that's the heart of our text micah 7-8 in the king james rejoice not against me o mine enemy now when you go through the book and you read especially chapter 7 you know he's not just kind of speaking in hyperbole he really believes he sees these bad people he lives among them there are a lot of evil people in his world they're all around him they're his neighbors in his mind they're in his own house you can't trust anybody but then he says rejoice not against me o mine enemy when i fall i shall arise and when i sit in darkness the lord shall be a light unto me this is not a begging appeal by micah it's sort of a warning you know he's not kind of hunkering down and whimpering here he's issuing a warning to his enemy that no matter what you try to do to me you can't keep me down amen i envisioned the enemy of micah the enemy of the people of god at this point in his writing you just kind of visualize what's going on micah is down right and visualize a boxing match and micah's enemy has knocked micah down if you're me it's his left hand that knocked him down and the referee is going through the ten count i don't know how far he is into the count but you know one and they say it's not necessarily 10 seconds but 10 counts and micah's enemy is strutting around the ring and he's got both fists both fists raised in the air and he's so proud of himself and the prophet micah christian guy you know not back then godly guy in the enemy's mind he has destroyed micah but micah laying there while the referee is counting is kind of want to say don't print the t-shirts yet don't plan the party yet don't picture your picture in the news yet what micah says is i may be down but i am not out and i want to say this to you today that you need to make up your mind to have an attitude like micah that says rejoice not against me oh my enemy i may not be feeling good right now i may not be thinking clearly right now it may look like everything is bad but i want you to know that that i may be down but i shall arise i'm getting back up again now micah does not say if i fall he says when i fall and once again this does not imply that mike is failing god in sin i've already said this i know that we can sin we're capable of sin and if we will repent god will forgive us but this is not talking about sin per se it is talking about falling down under the attack of an enemy against him amen and in the battle of life none of us can say that we have never failed none of us can say only jesus that we've never lost a battle that we've never taken a lick that not did not knock us down micah does not pretend to be impervious to the pain of life he is honestly encouraging us that when i fall don't count me out i shall arise amen it doesn't matter how much the enemy has a steer on his face gloating over his assumed victory glaring at the crowd glaring down at micah who is laying there amen god will always give his people a way of escape a way to rebound we can be resilient in our spirit amen for micah strength is surging through his body and resolve his return to him his jaw is set his eyes are piercing he is up he stops the referee from his count he is back in the fight again yo i fall i will arise amen i want to tell you that you can get back up again that god can give you a resiliency in your spirit that no weapon formed against you shall prosper that you will always be able to get up one more time then you've been knocked back down the righteous fall seven times and rise up again amen we are made overcomers by the blood of the lamb by the word of our testimony we were designed by god to be resilient [Applause] praise god and our stories like mike is back on his feet back in the fray having his way with his opponent amen not superman but he serves a supernatural god and he's not gloating in his own ability he is gloating in what god can do when i fall i shall arise micah 7 and 8 on the screens again i want to point to the next phrase when i sit in darkness the lord when i sit in darkness the lord shall be a light unto me now i told you i've taught this theme before a lot of different material but i just felt like i needed to just do this a little differently tonight but but i've never i've never really talked about when i sit in darkness and several days ago as i was kind of thinking this through praying about it i felt like tonight i really needed to address what micah said it is part of this very famous verse right when i sit in darkness the lord shall be a light unto me so what is this darkness that micah talks about rejoice not against me though i fall i shall arise but now he's not laying on his back he's sitting in darkness it's another picture a word picture so micah's world has gone dark you remember chapter 7 i've read it the power is off resources are drained can't find anything to eat righteous people can't be found anywhere not even one he says it's violence hatred evil a corrupt justice system bribes for judges micah lost all of his confidence in his friends as counselors he calls him guys felt like he couldn't even talk to his own spouse he talks about families being fractured you know right don't trust anybody daughter-in-law's mother-in-law sister and all of that and he said enemies are just on the outside but they're they're inside you better watch they're everywhere these conditions for micah make for a very dark place for him he's sitting and i visualize him sitting in stunned silence and sitting in darkness it might be the darkness of despair but things will never change it might be the darkness of depression that has drained the life out of you it may be the darkness of defeat the feeling that you are a failure maybe the darkness of isolation that you were all alone maybe the darkness of financial duress that you're under right now micah felt like he had no place to turn when he looked to the left look to the right look for a person to come to his rescue there was nobody there i think he felt like david did when he wrote psalm 142 4. i looked on my right hand and behold held and there was no man that would that would even know me like they didn't even know act like they knew who i was refuge failed me no man cared for my soul there's no one around to help micah micah is looking around in his culture looking around in his house looking around everywhere he can and there doesn't seem to be any help coming from anywhere on a horizontal plane so micah 7 7 we're backing up a verse therefore micah said i will look into the lord i will wait for the god of my salvation my god will hear me when micah quit looking around and started looking up he found faith again it is in verse 7 when he looks up to god that there is inspiration for the famous verse eight he looks up to god he calls on the lord and the lord helps him and then he finds this anointing to write and to say rejoice not against me o mine enemy when i fall i shall arise and when i sit in darkness the lord shall be a light unto me when i sit in darkness amen the lord shall be a light unto me i want to remind you of some scriptures in the bible about light in a dark place darkness is kind of a metaphor often for depression or despair or a place of sickness or the valley of the shadow of death and that darkness is tends to be evil but i want to remind you that when you sit in darkness the lord will be a light unto you psalm 27 1 the lord is my light and my salvation whom shall i fear the lord is the strength of my life of whom shall i be afraid amen isaiah wrote the people that walked in darkness have seen a great light they that dwell on the land of the shadow of death upon them hath light shine he's speaking of the coming of the messiah john would write in john 1 4 and 5 in him was life and the life was the light of man men and the light shined in the darkness and the darkness comprehended not or could not extinguish it amen the darkness could not stop it it was the apostle peter who spoke about the word of god we have a more sure word of prophecy where until you do well that you give heed is unto a light that shineth in a dark place until the days dawn and the day star arise in our hearts you may be in a dark place or you may go through a dark place and sitting in darkness but tonight i wanted to remind you that you can have a resiliency of spirit that though you fall you can get up again and though you sit in darkness the lord will be a light to you amen and i don't know what tomorrow holds or the next day or the rest of your life but i know what eternity holds for you amen and i wanted to remind you of that as well in revelation 21 25 and the gates of it that holy city shall not be shut at all by day for there shall be no night there in revelation 22 and 5 and there shall be no night there and no need they need no candle neither light of the sun for the lord god giveth them light and they shall reign forever and ever when it comes to understanding the bible paul writes about the gifts of the spirit he's talking about our incomplete understanding of everything paul says we see through a glass darkly first corinthians 13 and 12 for now we see through a glass darkly people who feel like they have perfect understanding of everything need to read this verse because this is speaking specifically first corinthians 12 13 14 about the operation of the gifts of the spirit that no matter how those gift operates it's a word of knowledge a word of wisdom it's not all knowledge it's not all wisdom it is always in part we know in part we prophesy in part that's what we know and we see through a glass darkly but paul said but then face to face now i know in part but then i shall know even as also i am known i know that you may be praying for the circumstances to change in our world and in your life and we all should pray that the circumstances would change in our world and in our lives but though you sit in darkness the lord is coming he is dispelling the darkness with the light of his word but the light of his presence amen the people that sat in darkness have seen a great light and those that live in the region of the shadow of death light is sprung up and tonight i want to encourage you that no matter how dark your circumstances may be how dark our world may get that god has given us a promise of new heavens new earth a place where there is no darkness sickness pain sorrow sadness no sin no enemy there amen so why don't you let the resiliency of the holy ghost and the strength of the word of god cause you though you have fallen down to rise up though you sit in darkness let the lord be a light unto you amen if you believe that would you stand to your feet would you lift your voice and when you thank the lord for the promises that are yes and in him they are amen