"The Power of A Crisis"
2 Corinthians 1:8-12
Sunday, August 5, 2012

Introduction: Illustration- In 1970, the spacecraft Apollo 13 was sent on a mission bound for the moon. This was to be a routine mission, but the  trip went very wrong. There was a malfunction caused by an explosion which ruptured oxygen tank no. 2 in the service module. The explosion also ruptured a line in the no. 1 oxygen tank, causing it to lose oxygen rapidly. All oxygen stores were lost within about 3 hours, along with loss of water, electrical power, and use of the propulsion system. Ron Howard made this true event into a film in 1995 showing the trials and tribulations of the Apollo 13 crew, mission control, and families/ after a near-fatal accident crippled the space vehicle. The astronauts were stranded 205,000 miles from earth, and they were in a major crisis. Mission control had to find a way to bring them home or be marooned  in an enormous orbit around the Earth. In the end, Mission control was able to find a way to bring them home safely. It is an amazing story!

            In our lives we will face times of crisis. In times with the church we will face crises. Some crises will be major, others minor. But we need to know how to respond to any kind of crises if we want to learn how to live fully for the Lord; if we want to learn how to live focused lives for God. It is about being able to process the deeper life pain while seeking to live for the Lord.

I.                   Crisis Processing- (1 Peter 5:8-9; 2 Corinthians 1:8)

a.      Types of crises- When we step out in faith, we often face times of

crises. This crises causes people to either question whether they want to “fully” live for God. Or it can even cause some to question their faith. Twice a year we used to run our “Alpha” program, which is basically Christianity 101. It is a wonderful series on the basics of the Christian faith, which is helpful for everyone to get a good reminder and foundation about the Christian faith. But I have seen this happen many times, where someone comes to Alpha who has gone astray in their faith. They are now coming back to church to try to get “right” with God. They come and really enjoy what they learn at Alpha. But a couple weeks into the class they start to experience some bumps in the road. Whether it is pressure put on them by their family, or a loved one, or whether it is moral choices they have to make, or maybe it is struggles that come about unexpectedly, it is not uncommon to see these crises occur.

            In times of counseling and mentoring with people I have seen this same thing occur. People start to make decisions based on biblical principles and they find that Satan throws some obstacles in the way.

   I would like to challenge you to not let these crises cause you to question God, your service to God or your faith, but rather learn how to process these crises, with God’s help so that you can overcome all challenges and challengers that come against you.

            Let me first give you a definition of crisis processing: “Crisis processing refers to those special, intense moments when God tests and develops character and teaches dependence.”/  So we see that a crisis can help us to develop character and learn to depend more on God. The key to processing crisis is recognizing that God uses crises to test and to teach. That doesn’t mean that God is always causing these crises, but it does mean that God uses them to achieve good in us and to strengthen us. We need to acknowledge God’s sovereignty even in times of crises. When we can do this we will see growth occur in our lives! Let’s look at types of crises we face:

1. A threat to life, property or way of life./ When we are threatened or part of our life is threatened, then our response is to fight against it.
2. Conflicts in relationships./ Conflicts in our relationships can be quite painful.
3. A current situation which requires urgent change./ Any kind of change, even if it is for the best, can be difficult to go through. But sometimes the way we are living is not good and must be changed. The sooner the better!
4. Inner turmoil or frustration./ When you are not at peace in life, then you are in turmoil.
5. Past abuses or dysfunctional relationships that have not been dealt with./ It is easy to want to avoid our past pain or abuse, but at some point in life, for us to be healthy for God, we must deal with it.
6. Personal sickness or a sickness in the family./ Health issues are always disruptive to life.
7. Mid-life struggles regarding loss of focus or direction./ We all want to know what life is about, and so when we struggle to understand God’s will or direction for our lives, it can be quite uncomfortable maybe even lonely.

The key to all of these is to let them move us deeper into God’s heart. It is wrong to try to face these crises alone.

b.      Crisis and spiritual warfare- But there is another kind of crisis, and

that is the crisis of spiritual warfare. I alluded to it a little when I talked about the “Alpha” example. We must realize that there is an enemy of God, and that is Satan. Satan is real and active. We are told in the scriptures, in 1 Peter 5:8- “…Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour.”/  Because we have aligned ourselves with God, we are Satan’s enemy as well. You know that when a lion is on the prowl, he is looking for the weak and the stragglers to attack. So Peter tells us in 1 Peter 5:8-9, “Discipline yourselves, keep alert… Resist him, steadfast in your faith…” If we follow what Peter says here, being disciplined in the Lord, we will indeed be strong; not someone the devil will want to attack!

In a Peanuts comic strip Snoopy is sliding along the frozen pond on his

bare little paws. He’s having a great time. And then along comes Lucy. She skates out onto the pond with her ice skates on. Snoopy sees her, skates toward her, and does a twirl stopping right in front of her. Lucy looks at Snoopy for a moment and then says: “That’s not skating, that’s sliding. You don’t have any skates on. Skating is when you have skates on. You’re not skating at all. YOU’RE JUST SLIDING!” And then in the last frame Snoopy is walking off the ice and says to himself: “How could I have been so stupid. And I thought I was having fun.”

            The enemy, Satan, wants to discourage us. The enemy might even throw roadblocks (crisis) into our path to try and discourage us. And through this crisis, if we take our eyes off of Jesus, then we will focus on the crisis and we will indeed get discouraged; discouraged in our faith, discouraged with our life, discouraged in our purpose for God.

          But the apostle Paul gives us some important words to combat this in 2 Corinthians 1:8, “We do not want you to be unaware…of the affliction we experienced in Asia; for we were so utterly, unbearably crushed that we despaired of life itself…..”/  You can see here how Paul and his companions we in a real crisis. They were suffering an affliction in Asia where they despaired life itself!

            As we move to our next point, we will learn from the example of Paul on how to deal with the crises we face in life, and the power that comes out of this battle and victory. That is why it is spiritual warfare, because it is a battle to see whom we will follow in the end; if we choose to not follow God, then by default we are following Satan!

II.                The Power of a Crisis- (2 Samuel 15:13-31; 2 Corinthians 1:8-12)

We can see in scripture how God time and time again uses crises to develop his leaders. Let us look for a moment at David and Absalom….

a.      David and Absalom- In the book of 2 Samuel, in the Old Testament,

in chapter 15, we see a struggle going on between King David and Absalom over the power of the kingdom. In Verse 13 a messenger comes to David and tells David that “The hearts of the Israelites have gone after Absalom.” So David understands his crisis and tells his men that they must flee from Absalom so that they will not be caught and killed. But as he is leaving Jerusalem, he is carrying the Ark of the Covenant. He is riding out with many of his people behind him. King David shows his trust in God, even in the midst of this crisis. We see in verse 25 David says to Zadok, the assistant to the High Priest who attended to the ark: “Carry the Ark of God back into the city. If I find favor in the eyes of the Lord, he will bring me back and let me see both it and the place where it stays.”

            A couple of things are going on here. King David believes that Absalom, in taking over Jerusalem, will do no harm to the Ark of the Covenant. And Jerusalem is where the Ark belongs. So David is going to leave it where it belongs, trusting that God will protect the Ark from harm. But David is also trusting in the Lord that he will be able to come back to Jerusalem to again be king and again see the Ark of the Covenant. David believes that the Lord is his shield, his sustainer, and his deliverer. And so in the midst of the crisis with Absalom, David doesn’t trust in his power, or his position, or his fighting skill. No! David in the end puts his trust in God and seeks God to deliver him from this crisis.

David is submissive to the holy will of God concerning all that is going on. Even to the point of realizing that if he is to no longer be king, then that would be God’s will. God chose David to be king, and if it is no longer his time, David will trust God in this decision. Even though David is a king, he comes before God as a servant willing and waiting to receive instructions. David believes that God’s hand is in all events (he trusts in the sovereignty of God), and in this he is not afraid.

David then goes out of the city. Then he hears more news, and that is that Ahitophel is now counseling Absalom./  So David prays this in verse 31: “… ‘O Lord, I pray to you, turn the counsel of Ahitophel into foolishness.’” We see David’s faith here very strongly. First of all, David is again putting his trust in God, not in himself. Second, David is not praying against the person of Ahitophel, but against his counsel; that his counsel will be foolishness. If Ahitophel gives foolish counsel, Absalom could be defeated.

b.      Paul- Let us now look at how Paul dealt with his despair in 2 Cor. 1?

Illus.- It is like the cartoon, where a man is lost in the desert, he has been without food and water for days. His lips are swollen, his tongue is swollen, he’s all beat up and bloody. He has been scraped and beat up by the cactus and sand and sun. He’s blistered. As he’s crawling over this little hill he comes across this little plant. He props himself up on one bloody elbow, looks down at the plant, and says to himself: “You know, if things keep going like this, I might get discouraged.” (…the Tardy Oxcart, p. 164)

            Going back to 2 Corinthians, Paul is talking about despairing for his life. In fact he goes on to say that they felt like they had received the sentence of death. But then he says some amazing, powerful, and important words in verse 9- “Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death so that we would rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.” WOW! Did you hear the “so that”? This crisis, Paul says, was leading him and his companions to rely not on themselves, but on God. And not just any god, but our God who “RAISES THE DEAD.” This indeed is a reminder of the work that God the Father did in the Son, Jesus Christ, by raising Christ from the dead. And a God that can raise the dead should surely be the kind of God that Paul, Paul’s companions, and you and me can trust to lead us out of our crises!!

            But Paul doesn’t stop there; he goes on in verse 10. “He who rescued us from so deadly a peril will continue to rescue us again.”/ Paul recognizes that God has rescued him. Paul understands that God will continue to rescue him. The crisis he is facing is allowing him to move into a deeper resolve into God’s heart. Paul, like David, was not trusting in his own name, or his own skills, but in God!

            Later in this same book, 2 Corinthians 4:7-11, Paul says it like this:

“But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing greatness of the power may be of God and not from ourselves; we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.”

            Do you see how Paul wants God to receive the glory? Do you see how Paul understands that with God at his side, he might be afflicted, but he won’t be crushed. He might be struck down, but he will never be destroyed. And this is so that Jesus can be seen in and through our lives.

Conclusion: So how should you and I deal with crisis? Well, don’t be so concerned with trying to understand the lesson or lessons to be learned in the crisis. It is important to focus on and deal with the crisis. But as you seek to deal with the crisis, don’t think that you have to do this on your own power; trust in God as David did, and as Paul did. Also, remember that there will be others who will come to you to give you answers. Make sure the counsel you get is wise, Christian counseling. Make sure that you are being led to God. And then after you have allowed God to walk with you through your crisis, seek God for some wisdom. Ask these questions: “God, what did I learn?” “God, how do you want me to apply this to my life and/or to my ministry?” “How have I grown as a result of this experience?” And as you work through these questions, you will begin to see the “Power of a crisis.” In turn, as we, the people of God let God lead us through times of crises, we will be able to trust Him in all that He is doing with the church and its ministry. Amen.