How to Deal With a Crisis

Well, as we all realize, we're now entering a new year. And when you look at what happened last year and what seems to happen quite often around the world and in our country, some kind of a crisis happens, major event. You wonder what the new year's going to bring, and especially after just this past Friday, just yesterday, we had this horrendous mass murder, in a sense, and five people were killed, shot in the head, and eight others were injured, don't know exactly how seriously yet, at the Fort Lauderdale Airport.

And, you know, when this... if here's people that are just going there, they're getting off a plane, they're going to catch a plane, and this one fella, you know, he's there, and he mentioned that all of a sudden that person next to him drops. He's got a bullet in his head. And, you know, wow, what a crisis. How would you like to be in that situation? A bit later, they thought they had everything cleared, as we know, and they'd given it all a clear sign.

And then this other fella thought he heard shots. There was reports there was another person that was still there somewhere shooting. It turned out to be a false report, but he mentioned he was talking to Fox News at the time this happened, and when he thought there was another one, somebody there shooting, and he had his wife and, I think, his mother there with him, and they dropped down, tried to get behind a barrier, and his voice was really rattled because he thought for sure there was another shooter.

And you just wonder when this could happen, when we'd find ourselves maybe in some kind of situation like that, like those people did in Fort Lauderdale. But many people around the world are now facing crisis situations. Some have been dealing with those kind of situations for a long time. And so I have to ask, when I look at our country and what this mixture might bring, will the United States face a major crisis in 2017 that might affect everyone? I don't know, like 9-11 did, or something like that.

I don't know. I hope not. But we don't know. And right now, of course, we're going to have a new president take office here in two weeks. I don't know what kind of changes that will bring, but it'll probably bring some form of changes. When you think of a crisis, for those who are supporters of Hillary Clinton and really thought she was going to be the next president, maybe the first female president, they're still facing a crisis in trying to accept Donald Trump as president.

And that may stand for them for some time. But from time to time, just about all people, or everyone, or different organizations will face a crisis. Sometimes churches face a crisis.

Remember, it wasn't that long ago, a few years ago, when a member of a living Church of God walked into services and murdered the pastor and his wife? You remember that? I don't know whether that was quite a few years ago, but it was. That was a real major crisis that that church had at that particular moment. Christianity is a whole, maybe facing a crisis in the years ahead. Certainly is in some countries. In Egypt, the Coptic Christians are being forced out of Egypt. They're getting smaller and smaller and being murdered.

They face a major crisis there in Egypt, the Coptic Christians are. Various churches face a crisis from now and then, and maybe some churches of God will find their congregations facing a crisis from time to time. Some church organizations face a crisis, as we all did back in 1995 and as the United Church of God did again in 2010, as we all know, who were around at those times.

Even now, some congregations may be facing crisis situations, maybe some here in Michigan. Sometimes when that happens, you kind of want to know the details and maybe why it was a crisis, but the details are not what is important. What needs to be understood is why we have a crisis in our lives, as we all do individually and sometimes collectively, and how we can probably deal with that crisis when it happens, how do we get through it, and how can we come out stronger on the other side.

Those are things that are really important. Because every single one of us at some time in our life has faced a crisis, probably several times. And we will again in the future. Does the Scripture, God's word, tells various stories involving crisis situations? Did the patriarchs and prophets of the Old Testament face crisis situations in their lives? Did the apostles of the New Testament face crisis situations? Did Christ face a crisis? Should a crisis become a stumbling block, or should it become instead a door of opportunity, an opportunity for growth?

That's what I want to look at today. Today I want to look at what Scripture tells us when it comes to crisis situations and how to deal with a crisis, how to face and deal with it. I want to talk about what the definition of a crisis is so we understand how it's defined. We'll ask and answer the question, did the patriarchs and prophets and apostles have to deal with crisis situations? How should we deal with that ourselves when it happens?

How did Christ deal with it? And should a crisis be a stumbling block or a door of opportunity? And then what lessons would God want us to learn when we face a crisis in our lives? My title for my sermon here this afternoon is, How to Deal with a Crisis. How to deal with a crisis. Now, if you look up, I have an old Webster's Collegiate Dictionary. I don't know exactly the date of it, but it's a few years old. It's not too old.

It's probably six, seven years old. But it gave three basic definitions of a crisis. The first one, I'll give it to you, but it doesn't really apply to what I'm going to be talking about today. The first definition has to do with it being a turning point of a disease, which doesn't apply to what we're going to be talking about today. The second and third definitions do apply to what I'm going to be talking about. The second definition is simply a turning point in the case of anything, any kind of change or turning point.

A decisive or crucial time or event is also part of that second definition. A decisive or crucial time or event. The third definition is a time of great danger or trouble. I think right now we look at our nation, we look at the world, we are living in a time of great danger and trouble.

The third definition is a time of great danger or trouble. Then it goes on to add, often one which threatens to result in unpleasant consequences. Of course, a lot of people in Florida, yesterday they faced that, they lost level in some of them.

Today we will end touch primarily on the second and third definitions, on a crisis being a turning point, and on being a crucial time, and then sometimes resulting in unpleasant consequences. In fact, Webster's lists the word emergency as being a synonym for crisis, which also then makes it a crisis of time of danger or trouble, as stated in the third definition. First I want to look at the patriarchs, and the prophets, and the apostles. Look at the patriarchs first. Did the patriarchs and the apostles and the prophets have to deal with a crisis in their lives? First, let's look at the patriarchs, and let's begin by going to Genesis 6.

Genesis 6 begins in verse 5. This is a horrendous crisis that affected everybody, as we know. We're all familiar with the story. Genesis 6, verse 5, has to do, of course, with Noah. Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

And the Lord was sorry that he'd made man on the earth, and he was grieved in his heart. This is what he attended. He wanted man to become made into his image and likeness, and they're going just the opposite direction. They were destroying one another. So the Lord said, verse 7, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing, and birds of the air, for I'm sorry that I have made them. So this, then, was a crisis of unprecedented proportions. God was going to destroy all life from off the face of the earth. Verse 8, But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. The word grace means favor. This, then, is a key, first key, then, for making it through a crisis. How can we make it through a crisis? This is a point that shows us one of the first steps in making it through a crisis. There are some things that may turn the world upside down that can happen, as this did. But if we, as followers of Christ, find grace or favor in the eyes of God, God will see us through that crisis, as he did Noah. Noah found favor in God's eyes, and God saw him through the crisis, and he'll do the same for us.

Which leads to another point of this incident we're talking about right here, this Noah's flood. Our personal relationship we have with God is Noah did. He had his personal strong relationship with God and found favor in God's eyes because of that. Our own personal relationship with God and finding favor with God can have a major impact on our family in a very positive way. Because God here not only showed favor on Noah, but he also then extended that favor to Noah's family, as we read in Genesis 7, verse 1. Genesis 7, verse 1, The Lord said to Noah, Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you, Noah, are righteous before me in this generation. So the favor that God extended to Noah, he also extended to Noah's immediate family as well. So it shows how important it is to find favor in God and have the right heart before God because it can then extend favor to your family as well.

Let's go to Genesis 12.

Very familiar. We read this scripture not too long ago, but I want to go over them again because they apply here as well. Genesis 12, verse 1, The Lord said to Abraham, and became Abraham, of course. And again, a crisis can be a major turning point or change that takes place in a person's life.

This is a major change for Abraham.

He said, I wanted you to get out of your country. I want you to leave your family. I want you to leave your father's house.

And just follow me. I'm going to take you to a land that I'm going to show you. He didn't tell exactly where he's going or why or what he's going to do, but he said, I just want you to follow me. I want you to leave your family behind. You can think about a crisis or that might be for us if God told us to do that. How would you like to be asked to do that by God?

Leave your job. Leave your family. Leave your house. Just follow God. He said, I have a plan for you. I want you to do that. Just follow me. And then he said to Abraham, verse 2, If you do that, I'll make you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great, and you shall be a blessing. And I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you. And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. So this then is a major crisis, or in this case a major turning point in the life of Abraham. So let me ask this question then. What was the key for Abraham in making it through this crisis? Verse 4. Because it said he did it. He says, So then Abraham departed as the Lord has spoken to him. The key for Abraham was he acted in faith. He had no idea what God was going to do. He said, I'm going to make you a great nation. He didn't understand why, how that could happen. He and Sarah hadn't been able to have any children. He had no idea how this was going to work out.

But he acted in faith, and then he lived by faith. So to make it through a crisis, we have to find favor with God. And number two, we have to live by faith. You have to live by faith. Because you won't always understand all the whys and wherefores.

But God does.

Now, there is a tremendous historical side point to what we just read. Verse 3, I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you. And in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. And you know, you look at history even in the last century, all the nations of the world have been blessed because of the blessings that God has poured out on Great Britain and the United States. That has been a blessing to all the nations of the world in many, many ways.

I just want to take a little current history here and bring into here as a side point to this statement that in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. In this past year alone, 2016, hundreds of thousands of people faced a crisis of monumental proportions. Nearly two million people fled their homes, fled their families, risking their lives in the process, and many actually lost their lives in the process.

In 2016, there was an Exodus. Talk about the Exodus of the Bible. About three million Israelites left Egypt. In 2016, there was also another Exodus of nearly two million people.

Where were they fleeing from?

They were fleeing from Syria, from Afghanistan, from Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, and other Middle East nations. Why were they fleeing? They were fleeing, in some cases, because their homes had been destroyed. They had no jobs. Their jobs had been destroyed. Their families sometimes had lost members of their family at times. They were fleeing because their lives were in danger. They were at high risk. And they had nothing left there in their own home country. Their own government had turned against them.

They were literally fleeing for their lives by the tens of thousands. They carried with them all what they carried with them. How they carried with them was what they could put in the backpack on their back. That was it. What if you had to do that? What if you had to get up right now and leave because your house had just been bombed, was destroyed, you had to have emergency to know they're dead or alive, and bombs are still following, like they are in Aleppo. And you said, if we're going to live, we've got to leave. And then they're trying to mow you down as you leave. And all you could take with you was what few clothes you could put in the backpack.

Everything else they had to leave behind. This past year, those nearly two million people, they're fleeing by land, they're fleeing by sea. Some of them in the sea, they're overloading the boats. They had a boat that was supposed to hold like 12 people, and they put 30 people in the boat. The boat would capsize, some would drown. Didn't make it.

But they couldn't stay home. They had to leave. They had to service their lives to do it. Again, they're fleeing by sea and by land any way they could, trying to find what? Trying to find their form of freedom, which I'm going to cover in a moment. So they could live their lives in peace and security. For those who made it this past year, it was nearly several months of journey, or sometimes almost a year-long journey. Often going without food or water, at times living in tents or in the open for weeks at a time, waiting at a border crossing, trying to get permission to cross from one country into another country.

Where were they heading?

Generally speaking, for the most part, what nations were they fleeing to? Many of them were trying to get to France or other European nations, or to the United Kingdom, or some even to the United States of America. They wanted to go where there was a blast. People were blessed. They were cursed where they were.

They were trying to get, in most cases, in many cases, not in all cases, but in many cases, to the modern day nations of Israel, to a large extent. They wanted to go to where the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were. Why? So they could be blessed instead of being cursed. Because here is a promise made to Abraham, in you all the families of theirs should be blessed. They wanted to come where they could see citizens being blessed by their government, for the most part, not cursed.

So at this very moment, right now, as we're sitting here in this building and joining the Sabbath, tens of thousands are still embarking on that journey, fleeing the Middle East and trying to get to the tenants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Now, that's just one side of the coin, however. There is another side of the coin. It's causing another crisis.

What I just covered was the Exodus side of the coin, but in this case there is also the other side of the coin, the invasion side of the coin. Because these Middle East immigrants are now invading Europe and Germany, and the United Kingdom, and in some cases coming to the United States.

And they are nearly 100% Muslims of the Islamic faith.

And they're not integrating into the cultures of the nations that they are immigrating into.

They're keeping their culture. In addition to that, they mostly do not speak or learn the language of the nations that they are invading or coming into, making it extremely difficult for them to get jobs to where they can support themselves. So then the host nations have to try to support them. And they're coming in by the tens of thousands. How do you support tens of thousands of people, fleeing? Who can't speak your language and can't find a job.

Because that's what happens when they have to be supported by the host nation, which is greatly then affecting that nation's economy, affecting Germany. Germany is in a crisis right now because of it. They've got so many immigrants coming in, they don't know what to do with them. They support them. It's hurting their economy. They still have the strongest economy in Europe.

There's also additional risk that some of them may be terrorists or could be subject to the influence of terrorist groups. So that's a risk. Even those who are innocent victims and who say they are fleeing in order to obtain freedom have their own version of freedom. It's not like the freedom we have when people came to the United States of America. In this case, they want to be free to promote their own culture and their own religion.

And they'll eventually become the majority and change that nation that they're hosting into one that's primarily of their religion and their culture. That's creating a crisis for the host nation in some cases. They have this invasion from the south, which is now pushing at the north, which seems to possibly be the beginning fulfillment of Daniel 1140. Let's turn to Daniel 1140.

Daniel 1140, at the time of the end, the king or kings of the south shall attack, the king of the south shall attack him, referring to the king of the north. The old King James has it, and at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him. The people are going to be fleeing from the south and pushing at the north.

The new King James word attack could also be rendered invade. That's what we are. The northern nations are now being pushed at by the southern nations or invaded by the southern nations because the governments down there are killing their own people.

The Muslims and Arabs from the south are now pushing at and invading nations to the north in mass numbers, leading to a great end time crisis that we are now beginning to experience.

And trying to deal with that crisis will create another crisis. I just want to tell you something that just happened here, came into the news last week. It has to do with a little city in the state of Vermont. The state of Vermont recently resettled 100 Middle East refugees in the city of Rutland, Vermont, which has a population of about 16,000. The United States government didn't let the people of Rutland know ahead of time they are going to do this. They didn't have it to know about it. They didn't know about it until it happened. All of a sudden they found themselves with 100 refugees and their families here in the little city of Rutland. And they didn't have the financial means to support them. They weren't against Muslims, weren't anti-Muslim or anything like that. It wouldn't have to do with that. They just didn't have the financial means in this small city to support 100, to house them, take care of them. All of a sudden it was going to really give them a financial crisis for this little community.

So this situation we're facing in the world, all these refugees coming into little towns, or they're being planted or sent, sometimes without the city council even knowing about it, just finding out about it after it's occurred. But this is affecting many, many countries and nations and cities. Of course, you also now have sanctuary cities. That's becoming a crisis.

And not even to mention, but nothing to do with Muslims or anything like that, what's happening there. But what about just our border between, our southern border between southern states and Mexico? Do you know how many refugees came across that border illegally last year to try to get status in the United States? It's over 400,000 last year, across from Mexico and the United States. Many of them were sent back. Many of them weren't. Illegal immigrants, whatever. And you feel for those people because of why they're fleeing. They're fleeing from South America, coming through Mexico and trying to get here because of bad governments and bad situations and poverty. But it's a huge crisis. Situation is occurring. And this is becoming a world economic crisis as well, which is now affecting America. Let's go back and look at another crisis involving two more of the patriarchs. Let's go back to Exodus chapter 1.

Exodus chapter 1 verse 8.

In Exodus chapter 1 verse 8, Now there was a new king over Egypt who did not know Joseph. Of course, Joseph found favor in the other pharaoh's eyes, but now here's a new king. Didn't remember Joseph. This is going to create a crisis for the people of Israel. Verse 13.

So this is now creating a major crisis for the people of Israel. Then the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives of whom the name of one was Shipra, named the other Pua. And he said, when you do the duties of a midwife for the Hebrew women and see them on the birth stools, if they give birth to a son, then you shall kill him.

But if it's a daughter, then she shall live. So this now becomes a personal life or death crisis for these two Hebrew midwives, these two Hebrew women.

What was their key to surviving this crisis?

Verse 17. But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but they saved the male children alive. Here there is a third major key for surviving a crisis. One, as we already covered, we must find favor with God. Number two, we must live by faith. And number three, as exemplified here by these two women, we must fear God and not man. Favor, faith, and fear. Three keys to surviving a crisis we've covered so far. Let's move on. Did Moses face the crisis in leading Israel out of Egypt? Well, we all know the story. I'll just summarize it. From crossing the Red Sea, to the bitter waters of Mara, to Mount Sinai, to 40 years wandering in the wilderness, to viewing the Promised Land before he died, Moses faced one crisis situation after another throughout his entire life. How did he do? Sometimes he did great in handling his crisis. Sometimes he did great. Like I mentioned this morning, in the sermon, Exodus 32, about Moses, you know, one time there, he was in the golden calf and the people of Israel came down and made the golden calf, and they worshipped the golden calf, and God got so mad, he said, I'm going to destroy them. I'm going to destroy them. I'm going to start over with you, Moses. I'm going to make you the leader. I'm going to destroy them and make you the leader. How many men would not pass up that opportunity? That was Moses' finest moments, because he told him, he said, no, God, don't do that. He made a promise. You promised Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, you're going to make the great nation out of them. Don't change that mind. Don't forbid that promise from being fulfilled. Keep that promise. It was your promise, God. You made Abraham. I don't want to be that big leader. I want you to keep your promise. God, don't let everybody say you changed your mind. Didn't keep your promise. What did God do? Verse 13, I think it is, Exodus 32, he says he relented. He changed it. God changed it. And he went back and he spared them. He didn't do that. Another time Moses didn't do so good in his crisis, like when he was turned towards the end of his life, when he decided to number Israel, so he could find out how big an army he had. So Moses, he did great at times and not so great at other times, but he learned as he went. In the process of both success and failure, Moses grew as a leader, so he could then be used in God's kingdom at the return of Christ. What about Joshua and Caleb?

Before Moses died, he sent 12 spies to spy out the land of Canaan. Let's turn to Numbers 13.

Numbers 13, verse 25. Then the spies returned from spying out the land after 40 days, dropping down to verse 27. Then they told him and said, We went to the land where you sent us, and it's a great land. If those with milk and honey and this is here is its fruit, look at the fantastic fruit we brought back. Nevertheless, verse 28, the people who dwell in the land are strong. The cities are fortified and very large. They've got great walls around them.

More, we saw the descendants of Anak there and the Malachi's dwell on the land. They're huge. People are giants. And they're well armed. And there's the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amrites, who are great warriors. They dwell on the mountains and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and along the banks of the Jordan. Wherever we go, we're going to face this huge opposition of these warriors.

We can't move forward. There's too much opposition.

Verse 30. But then Caleb acquired the people before Moses and said, Let us go up. He wants to take position for we're well able to overcome it. But the men who had gone up with him said, We are not able to go up against these people, for they're stronger than we. They're too strong. Now, let me ask a question here, because Caleb was with Caleb as well.

What was the difference between these two opposing perspectives?

Caleb saw things from God's perspective. Well, the others, with the exception of Joshua, saw things from their own human perspective.

To survive a crisis then, and to properly handle a crisis, we need to see things from God's perspective. That's another key. We have to have to see things from God's perspective, not from our perspective. Numbers 14, verse 6. But Joshua, the son of Nun, and Caleb, the son of Jephuna, who were among those who had spied out the land, they tore their clothes when the others said, No, we can't do it. It's too hard. Too many strong people there. They tore their clothes. And they spoke to all the congregation of children and visitors, saying, The land we pass through to spide out is an exceedingly good land. And if the Lord delights in us, then He will bring us into the land and give it to us. In other words, if our hearts are right, if we are relying on God and God's strength and His power, as Joshua and Caleb were, then He gobbled delight in us. We can say that. If we have the same attitude that Joshua and Caleb had, God will delight in us. And He will see us through any crisis that we have to face, one way or another. Verse 8, If the Lord delights in us, He who will bring us into this land and give it to us, the land which flows with milk and honey, only do not rebel against the Lord, and fear the people of the land. For they are our bread. And their protection is departed from them. God's with us. He's not with them. They were looking at it from God's perspective. The others were looking at it from their own human perspective.

Their protection is departed from them, and the Lord is with us. Don't fear them.

They would probably handle a crisis, try to see things from God's perspective as Joshua and Caleb did. What about the prophets?

I'm not going to go through a lot of examples. We can spend three hours. But what about Isaiah and Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the 12 minor prophets? And what about Elijah and maybe Daniel?

Did they all have to deal with crisis situations?

You'll read their stories. They had to face one crisis after another through their entire lives almost. And some of those were on a national level, as they were sent to warn the leaders of Israel and Judah. They had to go to the leadership on a national level.

To tell those leaders what was going to happen to their nation if they continued to lead their people away from God. Because they were leading people contrary to God in God's ways, that of itself was creating a crisis for those nations. And of course, that crisis came to a head finally when Israel became threatened and eventually overthrown by Assyria, and Judah later became threatened and overthrown by Babylon. And then because of the warning messages they were giving, they all had to deal with a personal crisis as those leaders turned against them, the prophets. Their lives were threatened and some were killed.

Elijah had to flee for his life from Jezebel, the wife of King Ahab. Jeremiah was arrested and cast into a dungeon and then lowered into the mire of a sister in her well. And he remained later a prisoner until Jerusalem was captured by the Babylonians. You can read that in Jeremiah 38. What about the prophet Daniel and his three friends? Well, Daniel's three friends were thrown into a fiery furnace, and Daniel went to a den of lions. All for doing what? All for doing the work of God. All for doing what God told them to do. How did they handle all their various crisis situations?

They put their lives in God's hands. They put their lives in God's hands. Just like Daniel's three friends. Yeah, King Nebuchadnezzar doesn't matter.

Go ahead and throw us into the fiery furnace. Yeah, we might die, we might not. God's able to save us. God has the power to save us, but it doesn't matter whether he does or not. We're not going to follow you. We're not going to disobey God. We're going to remain faithful to God. We're going to put our lives into God's hands. He could save us from anything if he so desires. So they put their lives into God's hands. And did what God called them to do, regardless of the consequences. They stayed the course. They stood in the gap. We have to do the same. See, there's a huge gap between God's ways and the ways of the world.

And we have been called to stand in the middle of that gap and point people to the ways of God, regardless of the personal consequences that might mean for us.

Now, what about the apostles?

All the twelve apostles, the eventual twelve apostles after Judas was replaced, and Matthias, all the twelve apostles were martyred, as far as we know. We don't know all the details, but that's what appears, with the exception of John, who was then imprisoned on the Allapatmos. What about the apostle Paul? Let's go to 2 Corinthians 11. 2 Corinthians 11, verse 1, where Paul had a rise to the church of Corinth, although he would bear with me in a little folly, because there were some ministers there who were bragging about being ministers of Christ and what they've done. So Paul said, bear with me in a little folly, indeed. You do bear with me.

Dropping down to verse 18, he then explains what he's talking about here. He says, seeing then that many boast according to the flesh, some of these false ministers are boasting according to the flesh, I'll also boast.

Paul then enumerates the many crisis situations he faced in his ministry, talking about crisis. Look what Paul faced, one crisis after another, and he enumerates those beginning in verse 22. He said, are they these other false ministers? Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites?

So am I. Are they of the seat of Abraham? So am I, Paul says. Are they ministers of Christ? As I speak as a fool, I am more in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in death often, that is, he came that close to death many times.

From the Jews five times, I received 40 stripes minus one, in other words, he was beaten almost to the edge of his life.

Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked. A night and a day I had been in the deep. On a raft, or even in the water floating or trying to survive. In journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, and in the sea, and among false brethren. In worryness and toil and sleevelessness often, in hunger and thirst and fastings and cold and nakedness, beside the other things, what comes upon me daily, is a deep concern for all the churches.

Paul gave everything he had to serve God's people, and he went through one crisis after another. Such major proportions that most of us have never experienced any of these things, though I Paul did. He experienced them throughout his entire ministry.

But the Apostle Paul faced one horrendous crisis situation after another throughout nearly his entire ministry, but he never gave up, he never got discouraged, he never let those things get the best of him. The next chapter Paul refers to another crisis, chapter 12 verse 7. He says, Unless I should be exalt above measure by the abundance of the revelation, the thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalt above measure, and concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times, and it might depart from me. But God didn't remove this crisis, did He? Instead, He left it for Paul to deal with.

How did Paul handle all of his crisis situations, and what did he learn?

While he dealt with them by continuing to forge ahead, not allowing anything to discourage him, to the point of giving up, he continued to remain positive in spite of all the overwhelming negative consequences and circumstances he faced, he remained positive. He was going to do God's work, but not whatever it meant in his life. And what did he learn? He learned an extremely valuable lesson.

He learned that when he was weak, he was strong. He learned that facing and having to deal with these crisis situations forced him to go to God to receive God's strength.

Well, let's read in 12, verse 9, He said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in your weakness. You're weak, Paul. But if you come to me for my help, I can make you strong. I can help you to deal with these crisis situations. I can see you through it. And you're going to become a much more valuable servant in my eyes. When Paul understood that and realized that important lesson, he said, Therefore, most cleverly I would rather boast in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest in me. Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong, because then I can go to God and have God's strength. You can see me through anything. You can give me that kind of faith that nothing can get me discouraged or to give up on the course that I'm on. How did Christ deal with his crisis?

See, Christ stood in the ultimate gap, didn't he? He stood in the gap between life and death, which for Christ created the ultimate crisis, the Christ of having to suffer and die, and excruciating death on our behalf. How did Christ deal with that crisis, and what can we learn from how he dealt with it? There are two passages that tell us how Christ dealt with his life and death crisis. The first passage takes place on the Mount of Olives on the night he was betrayed. Let's go there to Luke 22. Luke 22, beginning in verse 41.

He says, He was withdrawn from there by the stones, so it was up in the Mount of Olives the night before he was crucified on that Passover evening. He was withdrawn from there by the stones, so he knelt down and prayed, saying, Father, if it is your will, take this cup away from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done. So here in these two verses, Christ did two things. Number one, he prayed. He took it to God in prayer. That's one of the first things we can do when we have a crisis, take it to God. Take it to God in prayer. And number two, wasn't it? He just took it to God in prayer. It's how he prayed. He prayed, not my will, but your will be done. Don't work this out the way I'd like to see it work out. Work it out the way you know it needs to be worked out, according to your will. So this gives us two ways, then, on how we can handle a crisis. We should take it to God in prayer. Number one. Number two, even more important, we should not pray for what we want or what may be best for ourselves. From our perspective, instead we should pray as Christ did here, inhaling in his crisis, we should pray for God's will to be done. Now, the second passage, the second scriptural passage, shows us how Christ dealt with his crisis. That takes place when he was dying on the cross.

Let's go one chapter forward here, Luke 23, verse 32. There were two others. Criminals led with him to be put to death. Luke 23, verse 32. In verse 33, when he had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the criminals were on the right and the other on the left. Then, Jesus said, verse 34, this is where we can deal with a crisis, maybe a key point of all of them. Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.

You know, nearly every crisis will evolve two or more parties.

And regardless of which party may or may not be at fault, each party needs to forgive the other party. And each party needs to also ask God to forgive them for any part they may have played in the crisis, even if they don't think they did anything wrong.

The only way to resolve and heal a crisis between two or more parties is for both parties to seek forgiveness for themselves and toward the other party to forgive the other party as well, for any part they may or may not have played, or may have played, I should say. For each party needs to forgive the other party. You may not understand it. What is God looking for in each and every one of us? What's the bottom line that God is looking for? Let's go back to the Old Testament just for a moment. One scripture, the very last chapter of Isaiah, Isaiah 66, tells us what God is looking for in each and every one of us, whom he has called. Thus says the Eternal, chapter 66, verse 1, Heaven is my throne, the earth is my footstool. Where is the house or temple that you can build for me? I have the entire universe to live in.

Where is the place of my rest?

If I can lay down and sleep, I don't need to sleep. I don't need to take rest. I'm the Eternal God.

For all these things my hand is made, I've made these things. And all these things exist because of me, God says to the Lord. What God is saying here is that He controls all things, that He's sovereign for all things.

He doesn't need any of man's help. We all need His help. He doesn't need our help.

What then is God looking for in each and every one of us? A lot of part of verse 2. On this one will I look, on Him who is poor, who is needy, who needs God, who needs God in his or her life, who needs God to work things out, who needs God to give them the faith and strength they need. He is important of a contrite spirit and who trembles at my word. He says I will look on those who are humble and who desperately need my help, and on those who seek forgiveness, who want to extend forgiveness to others, and who tremble at my word. One aspect of God's word that I think we can all tremble at is given in Matthew 6, 15, where Christ Himself said, if you do not forgive, men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. That's something I tremble at. I've got to make sure I've got a forgiving spirit.

So three keys to surviving a crisis were faith, favor, and fear, and now we can add forgiveness to that. Favor, faith, fear, and forgiveness, plus all the other points we've also looked at. Let's quickly move on to two final points. Should a crisis be a stumbling block or a door of opportunity?

What's our goal? As Christians, what's our goal, ultimately? What is the bottom line goal? God wants all of us to strive to achieve. Let's let the apostle Paul answer that for us. Go to Ephesians 4.

Paul answers that for us. He understood. He tells us in Ephesians 4 what our ultimate goal of all of us should be, and what it is. Ephesians 4, beginning in verse 11, he himself gave Son to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers. For what purpose? For the equipment of the saints, for the work of ministry, for the work of service, for the edifying and building up of the body of Christ. Till when? Verse 13, till we come to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God to a perfect man, or should be to a spiritually mature individual, that means I'm going to be absolutely perfect, never make a mistake, to a spiritually mature individual, to the... How mature should we become? To the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. So when it comes to striving for spiritual maturity, what is our goal? Our goal is to strive to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, to strive for the same spiritual maturity that Jesus Christ has, to handle things as He would handle them, to have His mind in us, to have that kind of maturity on how to handle things as He did, to be able to handle Christ's situation as the man of Christ did, which means what? It means that Christ's should be a door of opportunity. It's the door of us to grow spiritually, just to look at Christ and to try to strive to measure up to His spiritual maturity level. It's the door of opportunity to try to strive for the maturity of Jesus Christ. Finally, then, what lessons does God want us to learn?

We have already given many of them, many of those lessons. I just want to end with one final lesson, which is very important to keep in our minds. In some cases, a Christ can involve a group of people, and in that group of people, some may understand the situation, and some may not understand the situation. We have a lot of questions. Why is this happening?

Why did this happen?

There can be a situation where those who do understand cannot explain the reason for the crisis to those who don't understand.

Why would that be? Well, there are two reasons for that. One could be because the others wouldn't believe them, because they just don't see it that way at all. And number two, it could be because it could involve confidential issues. So one party knows what it is, one might tell the other party because it's confidential. It could involve situations that are confidential.

There's a proverb which is just pointing out to me. It gives this important lesson. The person pointing this out to me is here. But I think it was very... I have my turn to it and it was pointed out to me. I remember that proverb, but that's quite a lesson you can learn from that proverb. Let's turn there. Proverbs 18. Proverbs, I should say, 18 verse 17. Where it says this. Proverbs 18, 17. The first one to plead his cause seems right until his neighbor comes and examines him. Why might the first one to plead his cause seem right? Because that may only be one side of the story and may not include all the facts.

If fully examined and if all the facts were known, the first one to plead his case may no longer seem right.

But what if the rest of the facts need to be kept confidential? Then what do we do? We then need to apply all the points in this sermon in how to deal with the crisis and on how to handle a crisis. We need to find favor with God. We need to live by faith.

We need to fear God and not man. We need to learn from each crisis we go through and try to see things from God's perspective and strive to put our lives into God's hands. We need to ask God for his strength. We need to take it to God in prayer, asking for God's will to be done, not our will to be done. We need to have a humble contrite heart asking God to forgive us and asking God to help us forgive the other party even if we don't understand why. Remember this proverb, The first one to bleed his cause seems right until his neighbor comes and examines him.

I want to conclude by just reading the first paragraph. Recently, just this past week, it's dated January 4th. The chairman of the Council of Elders, Dr. Ward, Dr. Donald Ward, wrote a letter. I just want to read the first paragraph of that letter here, concluding.

He said, We are now entering a new secular year in the midst of perhaps the most critical, crucial period in human history. The whole world is in some state of transition. That is part of a definite of your crisis, a major change or major transition in your life. That's part of the definition of a crisis. So he could say, The whole world is in some state of crisis. In all of its institutions, we daily read, see and hear of nearly every one of the pre-tribulation signs of Matthew 24 being fulfilled. You can look at some of those signs and say, Well, this has been fulfilled in the past, this has been fulfilled in the past, but it seems like all those things now are all coming together and happening at once. It seems like it's a culmination that's taking place of the prophecies of Matthew 24 for the time of the end, leading up to Christ's return. It seems like nearly every one of the pre-tribulation signs of Matthew 24 are being fulfilled. In contrary to what any political leader might claim, the world is increasingly becoming a more and more dangerous place to live. We certainly know that. We see that in the news every day. And he ends that first paragraph by saying, Who knows when the next shoe will drop? We could say, Who knows when the next major crisis may occur? Because it will come at some point. And it could be a major crisis that could greatly impact all of our lives. We don't know. But we don't have to be afraid. Because everyone God has called and worked with have faced many crisis situations in our lives, and all of us have, you have. But apply these lessons, and learn from these biblical examples on how to handle a crisis, and if we do that, then we will be prepared, no matter what happens in the months and years ahead of us.