Finding Hope in the Midst of Adversity

For eight years I was the bivocational pastor of Faith Community Church in Barre, Vermont. The church started in my home with two other families and eventually grew to over 200 in worship. From the beginning, the congregation tended to attract young people from difficult situations. In time, many of families those young people came from, also found their way into the church. My wife and I, and the other elders, loved them, cared for them, and did all that we could to help them find health and joy through faith in Christ. Many such families were gloriously transformed by the power of the gospel.

While there were numerous means that God used for these transformations, one of them was a focus on finding hope in the midst of adversity. Far too many people think they cannot find hope, joy or peace until all their troubles go away. That is unrealistic. We live a sin-cursed world and trouble is all around us. Part of maturing spiritually is learning to find hope and joy in the midst of all of our struggles.

Part of helping the congregation find hope in the midst of adversity included preaching through various sections of the scriptures that highlighted victory over circumstances. One such series of sermons that I preached at Faith Community Church revolved around the book of Malachi. The study showed how the announcements of coming judgment in Malachi actually contain a thread of hope that helps Christians understand the refining process of adversity. Though learning how to recognize hope in the middle of difficulty can be hard, it is possible. So many people asked for the notes that I published them on my blog, www.terrydorsett.com. Our church also made a DVD set that sold out each time we did a duplication run. Realizing that these materials seemed to meet a spiritual need in the lives of many people far outside the scope of ministry at Faith Community Church, I decided to put the study into book form. The book is laid out in seven lessons which contain historical context, theological truth and practical application. It can be used individually, or as a small group study. It is my prayer that this book will help people who are experiencing real challenges in their lives find hope through faith in Jesus Christ.
 

Though I have now moved away from Faith Community Church, my heart still aches for those going through deep pain and adversity. In my new church planting ministry in the greater Hartford, Connecticut area, I continue to meet people who have been beat up by the struggles of life and need hope. I pray that God continues to use this book to help people find hope in Him. All of the proceeds from the sale of the book support our family’s ministry to hurting people. I encourage you to check out this Bible study at one of the links below: Digital version: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ASDEOGU Print version: http://www.amazon.com/Malachi-Finding-Hope-Midst-Adversity/dp/1105660087

Were There Dinosaurs in the Bible? - Guest Post by Bill Davis

The basic idea of, 'does the Bible mention dinosaurs', is much more complex and far reaching than we may realize. It effects our belief in the actual six day theory of creation, the age of the earth and even evolution as well as other theories. There are those who feel the earth is over 4 billion years old and there are those that use the accounts in Genesis, such as Noah's age, genealogy, the resting of the Ark, etc., to determine the earth being 6,000+ years old. Those who believe in the older age of the earth, tend to hold that the Bible does not mention dinosaurs because dinosaurs were to have died out millions of years before man. Those who believe in the younger age of the earth tend to believe the Bible does mention dinosaurs.

 

The Bible does not actually use the word "dinosaur". Many Biblical scholars look at the Hebrew word; "tanniyn". It is often translated as "sea monster" or a giant "serpent" but is most commonly thought to mean "dragon". Whatever the translation, it is certainly used to denote a giant reptile. I have read where the KJV of the Old Testament uses tanniyn 28 times: 21 as a dragon, 3 as a serpent, 3 as a whale, and 1 as a sea monster.

 

Ezekiel 29:3 King James Version (KJV); "Speak, and say, Thus saith the Lord God; 'Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers."

 

Isaiah 27:1 King James Version (KJV); "In that day the Lord with His sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and He shall slay the dragon that is in the sea."

 

Job 40:15-24 King James Version (KJV) Selected; "Behold now behemoth, which I made with thee; he eateth grass as an ox. Lo now, his strength is in his loins, and his force is in the navel of his belly. He moveth his tail like a cedar: the sinews of his stones are wrapped together. His bones are as strong pieces of brass; his bones are like bars of iron. Surely the mountains bring him forth food, where all the beasts of the field play. Behold, he drinketh up a river, and hasteth not: he trusteth that he can draw up Jordan into his mouth. He taketh it with his eyes: his nose pierceth through snares."

 

The Hebrew term, tanniyn, applies to some form of a monster, either marine or land. Many scholars believe Scripture writers used tanniyn to describe images of dinosaurs in the Bible.

 

Even if the Bible does mention dinosaurs; are not dinosaurs supposedly millions of years old and Genesis places the earth at 6,000 ish years old? There have recently been several revelations where dinosaur bones, thought to be millions of years old, have been cut in to, only to reveal tissue that no way could be more than several thousand years old.

 

This just barely scratches the surface. One thing we must remember:

 

Genesis 1:1 King James Version (KJV); "In the beginning GOD created the heaven and the earth."

 

Bill Davis ministers through Lighthouse Ministries, speaking in churches across Anderson Country, South Carolina. He also serves as Executive Pastor of The Bridge Church, an outreach of Anderson University.

The Hartford Project

I am pleased to introduce an exciting new church planting effort in Connecticut which we are calling the Hartford Project. The Hartford Project is a strategic gospel mission targeting the Connecticut River Valley. It is the convergence of years of focused preparation and a passion to take the gospel where the gospel is most needed.  In the summer of 2013, church planter Steve Thiel and his young family will put down roots in Greater Hartford to launch a gospel-driven church which, by God’s grace, will become the epicenter of a church planting movement in the Connecticut River Valley.         See the Church Planting Prospectus.                 View the Thiels' May 2013 newsletter.     View the Thiels' March 2013 newsletter.     View the Thiels' January 2013 newsletter.

Estate Sales and the Gospel

Some people decorate their homes in a Victorian style. Others use a modern style. Still others go for a minimalist look. My wife and I have decorated our home in the style known as Early American Yard Sale. Pretty much every room has some treasure we found at a yard sale (or as they are often called in New England - tag sales), estate sale or church bizarre. Recently we were at an estate sale just two blocks from our home. We had actually been on the way to a different sale when we saw two boys holding handmade signs with arrows. The boys were jumping up and down and clearly excited about the sale they were promoting. It amused us so we decided to alter our plans and go to the estate sale.

When we got there we met Sally.* Sally explained that it was her mother's home, who had recently passed away at 91 years of age. The home has sold quickly and the closing date was only two weeks away. Sally needed to get rid of everything in the house in that two week time frame. As Sally talked, she got very emotional over the recent loss of her mother.

My wife and I could sense Sally's deep pain and our hearts went out to her. I told her that I was a minister and that I would like to give her a hug. She gladly accepted it and while I was hugging her told us that she was a non-practicing member of a non-Christian religion. We talked a bit about it and then she offered to show us some other things in her home that she had for sale. We looked around at various things but I could tell that she was distraught and really wanted to talk more about her mother and spiritual issues that death often makes us think about. Being an avid conversationalist who is comfortable talking about matters of faith, I reopened the conversation with her about her faith.

Suddenly twenty minutes had gone by as we sat on her couch talking about faith and spirituality. The religion Sally followed as a child did not believe in Jesus and she knew little about Him. But she did tell me that her religion had taught her that one day a Messiah would come who would bring hope to the world. I was pleased to tell her that Jesus was that Messiah. Though she was not yet ready to make a leap of faith to embrace that reality, clearly she was enthralled by the whole concept. Pray for Sally to continue her search for the Messiah and for that search to end in a commitment to Jesus.


*To protect my new friend's privacy, I have changed her name. Please join me in praying for Sally and the Father will translate her name into the right one as your prayers reach heaven.

God Uses Refrigerators for His Glory

Recently my wife and I moved from a lovely 1860's farmhouse on a hill in rural Vermont to a contemporary condo in a large housing complex just outside Hartford, Connecticut. We made this move so that we would be in a place for God to use us to stir up church planting efforts across the state of Connecticut. We only know a handful of people in Connecticut and most of them are either pastors or in some other type of Christian ministry position. But having been involved in church planting in Vermont for nearly two decades, we know God would connect us to unchurched people at the right time to see something new birthed for His glory in Connecticut.

 

After being here a few weeks, without being able to connect with any unchurched people yet, I was beginning to get a bit frustrated. I earnestly prayed that God would let me share His love with someone who really needed it. Little did I realize how God would do it.

 

Since moving into the condo, our refrigerator messed up several times and stopped working. Though it had a warranty, and the repair costs were covered, it was still frustrating for it to mess up several times, have to throw food away and wait for a repairman to come. The same repairman came twice in a row. He finally he got it fixed by replacing lots of parts. His name is Thomas.* Thomas had a pleasant personality and he and I chatted about various things both times he came. At the end of his second visit I felt led to talk to him about the Lord. To my surprise, he was very open to the conversation and told me he is a Christian who had fallen out of church. We talked about starting a Bible study in our home as a way for him to return to the Lord and try to get back into the habit of going to church again. He seemed very interested. I gave him all my contact info. Now I have to wait for the Spirit to work in his life.

 

I realized that this was the real reason my refrigerator had been messing up, so I could meet Thomas and talk about the Lord with him. God works in mysterious ways and this was just one example. I happen to think that a couple of jars of mayonnaise going bad is worth a soul! I praise the Lord that He can even use a broken refrigerator for His glory.

 

Join me in praying that Thomas will follow through and want to study the Bible with me.

 

 

 

*To protect my new friend's privacy I have changed his name, but the Lord knows what his real name is, so pray for Thomas and the Lord will translate those prayers into the right identify.

Hannah and Samuel: One Mother's Journey from Pain to Peace

1 Samuel 1:10-20
Deeply hurt, Hannah prayed to the LORD and wept with many tears. Making a vow, she pleaded, "LORD of Hosts, if You will take notice of Your servant's affliction, remember and not forget me, and give Your servant a son, I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life, and his hair will never be cut." While she was praying in the LORD's presence, Eli watched her lips. Hannah was speaking to herself, and although her lips were moving, her voice could not be heard. Eli thought she was drunk and scolded her, "How long are you going to be drunk? Get rid of your wine!" "No, my lord," Hannah replied. "I am a woman with a broken heart. I haven't had any wine or beer; I've been pouring out my heart before the LORD.  Don't think of me as a wicked woman; I've been praying from the depth of my anguish and resentment." Eli responded, "Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant the petition you've requested from Him."  "May your servant find favor with you," she replied. Then Hannah went on her way; she ate and no longer appeared downcast. The next morning Elkanah and Hannah got up early to bow and to worship the LORD. Afterwards, they returned home to Ramah. Then Elkanah was intimate with his wife Hannah, and the LORD remembered her. After some time, Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, because she said, "I requested him from the LORD."

Background on this passage:

•               Hannah was married to Elkanah, who was both wealthy and deeply spiritual.
•               Elkanah had a second wife, which was a source of tension between the two ladies.
•               The other wife had children, but Hannah had no children. In that culture, this was considered a negative mark against the barren woman.
•               These verses take place when they made their annual pilgrimage to the tabernacle to worship.

Verse 10 - Deeply hurt, Hannah prayed to the LORD and wept with many tears.
•               Hannah had a strong faith, yet she still had deep hurts.
•               Our faith does not erase our hurts, it gives us strength to endure them.
•               Hannah dealt with her hurt through prayer and tears.
•               Prayer has the power to change our attitudes, our actions and our circumstances.
•               Prayer does change things but does not always remove all our tears.
•               God designed tears to be part of the healing process when we go through difficult times.

The Miracle of Tears
http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v15/i4/tears.asp
•               Biochemist William Frey spent 15 years studying tears and found that stress-induced tears actually remove toxic substances from the body.
•               Crying reduces the body’s manganese level, a mineral which affects mood and is found in 30 times greater concentration in tears than in blood.
•               Crying also reduces the endorphin leucine-enkephalin, which controls pain.
 
Verse 10 - Deeply hurt, Hannah prayed to the LORD and wept with many tears.
•               There is nothing wrong with having a good cry every now and then.
•               But after we have shed our tears, then what do we do?

Verse 11 - Making a vow, she pleaded, LORD of Hosts, if You will take notice of Your servant's affliction . . .

•               Hannah was not content to just wallow in her pain. She made a commitment (vow) to the Lord.
•               Hannah thought of some specific commitments she could make to the Lord and what actions she might take to follow through on those commitments.
•               When we are under stress, sometimes we make bad decisions that only make the situation worse.
•               In painful times we must pray, seek godly counsel and then consider our commitments to the Lord and to those around us.

Verse 11 . . . and give Your servant a son, I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life . . .

•               Hannah focused on a specific problem and made it a matter of focused prayer.
•               She made specific commitments to the Lord about that specific issue.
•               Sometimes when we are under stress we try to deal with too many issues at one time instead of focusing on the most significant issue at that moment.
•               Dealing with too many issues at once often makes both our thinking processes and our prayers too generic and our commitments less clear.
•               Specific prayer and clear commitments keep us focused during difficult times in our lives. 

Verse 12 - While she was praying in the LORD's presence, Eli watched her lips.

•               Eli was watching Hannah, though she probably did not realize it.
•               We may not realize it, but others are watching how we deal with our troubles.
•               They want to know if our faith helps us or not.
•               If our faith does not help us, why would they want to follow the faith either?

Verse 13 - Hannah was speaking to herself, and although her lips were moving, her voice could not be heard. Eli thought she was drunk.

•               Eli did not understand Hannah’s spiritual connection with God, which was sad since Eli was a priest.
•               People will not always understand how faith helps us in times of difficulty. Sometimes even our friends at church will not understand.
•               Eli thought she was drunk.
•               Sometimes people will think we are acting like a religious fanatic, or joined a cult or some other odd thing when it comes to how our faith helps us in times of difficulty.

Verse 15 -. . . Hannah replied ‘I am a woman with a broken heart….’

•               Hannah may not have been understood by others, but she understood herself.
•               One of the things prayer does is help us sort our own thoughts and emotions so that we can hear what God is trying to say to us about our situation. 

Verse 15 -. . . Hannah replied . . . I've been pouring out my heart before the LORD.”

•               As a believer, Hannah realized the first person she should share her heart with was the Lord.
•               Hannah needed to get her frustrations off her chest so she shared them with the Lord.
•               God is always happy to listen to our frustrations.
•               We need to learn the importance of pouring out our heart to God FIRST.
•               We tend to pour out of troubles to other people first.
•               Though it is good to have family and friends to share our burdens with, our FIRST response should be to go to the Lord and share it with Him.
•               When we share our hearts with the Lord first, it helps us be more clear when we share it with others. And then they can offer more focused support.
 
Verse 17 - Eli responded, "Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant the petition you've requested from Him."
•               Though at first Eli did not understand Hannah, he finally realized the depth of her pain and the power of her faith.
•               People can seldom understand the depth of our pain unless they have experienced the same thing in their own lives.
•               Eli joined her in prayer and sensed God was going to answer it soon.
•               Having a prayer partner is one key to finding peace in the midst of pain.
•               Therefore, we must not write off those who do not understand our pain the first time we share it.
•               They will eventually realize our deep need and join us in praying through it.

Verse 18 - . . . Then Hannah went on her way; she ate and no longer appeared downcast.

•               Hannah worshipped, she prayed, she poured out her heart and it really helped!
•               Then she had to go on with her life. Though her problem was not “solved” she found peace and strength to keep going.
•               Prayer, worship and sharing our burdens with others in appropriate ways can do the same thing for us. 

Verse 19 - . . . Then Elkanah was intimate with his wife Hannah, and the LORD remembered her.

•               Hannah was loved by her husband, which helped her find a great deal of peace.
•               Having people in our lives who love us is very important for our emotional health.
•               Hannah was also remembered by God.
•               Realizing that God has not forgotten us is also very important for our emotional health. 

Verse 20 - After some time, Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son….

•               It took time for Hannah’s problem to be solved.
•               It takes time to find real solutions to the problems we face in life.
•               God gave Hannah a son, which was an answer to her specific prayer.
•               God will give us answers to our specific prayers if we do not try to jump ahead of God. 

Verse 20 - . . . She named him Samuel, because she said, "I requested him from the LORD."

•               The name Samuel has two interpretations. “God has heard” or “a son of God.”
•               However we want to interpret it, God heard Hannah’s prayer and gave her a son.
•               Hannah gave the glory to God by the name she gave her son.
•               Will we give God the glory when He answers our prayer & meets our need? 

Conclusion:

•               Our faith does not erase all our hurts, but it does give us strength to endure them.
•               Prayer and commitment to God changes our attitudes, our actions and our circumstances.
•               We should talk to God about our problems FIRST, and then find a godly prayer partner.
•               God’s timing is not always our timing, but it is always the right time.
•We should give God the glory in all things.

Fathers and Sons and Worship

In my role as a denominational leader, I visit a wide variety of churches. A few of the churches have great worship services, a few not so great, and the majority are somewhere between great and not great. Recently I visited a church that has a more robust service with an excellent worship leader. As I was singing I was blessed to see many families around me worshipping as well. Then I made a startling observation that I have never noticed before. In all the families in which the father was singing, all their sons were singing too. In the families in which the father was not singing, neither were the sons. Once I noticed this in a couple of families, it caught my attention and I tried to observe as many men as possible to see how they were interacting in worship and what impact it was having on their sons. The more I looked, the more my initial observation was proven correct.

One family in particular caught my attention because there was no mother present. Perhaps she had to work that day, or maybe she was serving in the nursery, or perhaps it was a divorced family. I had no way of knowing where the mother was, but the father was there with his two sons, who appeared to be young teenagers. I noticed all three of them singing and taking part in the prayers and following along with the sermon quite well. In a day in which it seems that most men have checked out of being the spiritual leader of their home, here was an example of a dad who was succeeding, at least in some small measure, in being a spiritual example to his sons. And he was not just doing it because his wife was poking him in the ribs, since she was not even there. It was clear that he was there because he wanted to be, and from what I could tell, the sons did not seem to mind being there either, which is a miracle in itself if you know much about teenage boys and church!

I have wondered since witnessing this if the father and sons have openly discussed the importance of worship and why one should be actively engaged in it, or did the sons just learn by the father’s example? Either way, that dad has done something right and we need more dads like him.

So what about it men? Are we content to stay home while our wives and children go to church? Are we content to attend the service but mentally be planning our next round of golf or thinking up the roster on our fantasy football team? Perhaps it is time for us to reengage in active worship. Let us show our children, especially our sons, what it means for a godly man to approach the Heavenly Father in a God-honoring way. Let’s be men!

 

For tips on how to help your children or grandchildren enjoy church, read Dr. Dorsett's book, Mission Possible: Reaching the Next Generation through the Small Church.