As a human being, you cannot live without loss. Everything in this world is temporary. Losses are inevitable. The typical question we always ask is why. Why is this happening to me? Why is this going on? And that is the unanswerable question. We’re not going to know on this side of eternity. Looking back later from heaven you’ll be able to see why some things happened the way they did. We do know that this is a broken planet. We do know that sin has caused a lot of problems in this world. Everything that happens on this planet is not God’s will, because a lot of people choose to not do God’s will. There are consequences and all kinds of damage. When we ask the “why” question, we don’t get an answer. But I’ve discovered after talking to hundreds of people through experiences of grief over the years that we don’t need an explanation anyway. What we need is an answer to ‘how.’ How can we move on? How can we rebuild our life after something important was lost? That really is the most important question. Losses are inevitable; rising up is optional.

Some of us are trying to carry too much. We have unresolved grief in our hearts and it is way heavier than we can carry. We are causing damage and it is slowing us down. Eventually something is going to fall, and when it does it will create quite a mess and take forever to clean up. One of the ways we release that weight is to grieve. Loss always creates very strong emotions in us. We may have worry and fear. We may have depression or anger. We don’t always know what to do with all of these emotions. But the worst thing we can do is simply bury them. If you bury your feelings they will eventually bury you.

Life is full of distractions. It’s full of things trying to ping us out of the present. Sometimes we welcome these distractions because they ping us out of a difficult situation we’re in. Work wears you out so you seek out distractions like gossip, or the news or social media. Guilt or shame from the past pings us. Worry and fear about the future flashes in our minds like a notification banner. And like any other distraction, the temptation is always the same: to check out of the present moment. Guilt and nostalgia both ping you out of the present and drag you into a past you cannot change. Excessive worrying and planning both ping you out of the present and thrust you into a future you can’t control. And here’s why it’s so important for us to fight these distractions: the present is where life happens. The present is where the joy is. The present is where you can actually make progress, solve problems, do good and love people. One of the tragedies we’re living through as people is being so distracted that we are not fully present in our lives. It’s like that saying John Lennon made even more famous by putting it in a song: ‘life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.’ God heals your past and secures your future so you can find joy in your present.

You don’t need to worry about your future because God is already working in your future. Your future is uncertain and you can’t control it, but God is already there. The only thing certain about your future is that God is working to preserve your life when you need Him most. Are bad moments going to happen? Yes. Are good moments going to happen? Yes. And God is already preparing to preserve your life in all of it--to weave all those frayed fragments into something good.

Pass along the comfort you receive. You lost someone you love, God comforted you, and now you can help people who are going through it now. You went through a divorce, God comforted you, and now you can comfort someone going their own relational crisis. You struggled with an eating disorder, or depression, or anxiety in the past, now you can help those struggling today. Whatever God has brought you through uniquely qualifies you to help others going through the same thing. You may not feel qualified to give advice, but guess what? People don’t want advice—they want someone who understands. People are not looking for heroes—they are looking for equals. You know what the most powerful words you can say to someone who needs help? It’s “me too.” I know how you feel. I know what you are going through. I have been there myself. You don’t need to give them hope, you are the hope.

If you are feeling pain today, you need to know that God wants to comfort you. It’s who He is. He is the source of ALL comfort. So, if you have ever wondered, does God see what I am going through, does He care, does He intend to do something about it? The answer is yes. He will not only comfort and strengthen you within the pain you’re experiencing, but He also promises to use it and ultimately bring meaning out it. So often it feels like pain is an interruption in our plans. It’s what’s keeping us from the good life. But with God, your pain never has to be pointless. God can use it bring good out of your life.

Many of us look back to a dark season we walked through, and we know, it was God who showed up and gave us peace when everything was falling apart. It was God who gave us strength when we felt weak. It was God who gave us a next step when we didn’t know what to do. God comforted you in that moment and got you through it, and now you are on the other side. You are a survivor and now you are uniquely qualified to comfort others who are in the middle of the mess God brought you through. And part of your recovery is allowing God to use your past to help someone’s present.

You may look at other people who have different gifts and skill sets than you and think, “I could never do that”, and you’re right! But they could never do what you’re called to do. God calls us all to His team but then to different positions on that team. We all support each other and God supports us all. Only look at others to see how you can serve them, not to feel better or worse by comparing your gifts to theirs. Once you get busy serving the team with the gifts God gave you, you won’t have time to compare. You’ll be too happy, feeling the significance and enjoying the friendship that comes when you get on a team and work towards a common goal. When you’re a part of the team you’re a part of the win.

In Jesus you aren’t your past. You are not your worst moments. You are not your private and public failures. You are not what your critics say. You are not what happened to you, you are not a victim, you are not mistake, and you are not an accident. Give your past to God before it robs you of your present and your future. Let God forgive the past, let God heal your past, let God set you free from the past, let God carry the burden, let God have the bitterness, let God have the anger, let God have the hate, let God have the betrayal, let God have the fear, let God have the worry, let God transform the insecurity, and let God lighten the load. It is too heavy to carry alone. It is slowing you down too much, it is stealing the joy you can have today, and it is clouding your view of others and the future. Let God take that betrayal and bring something beautiful out of it. Let God help you with your trust issues. Let God change your thinking. Let God change your attitude. Let God shape you to learn from the past and not be imprisoned by the past. Release the past so you don’t repeat the past and then you can help others deal with their past. Let God be the God of the past, the present, and the future and seize the day.

Some days, even before you wake up, it’s a bad day. As we go through life the hits we take can get harder and harder. When we put our ultimate hope in non-ultimate things, we end up ultimately disappointed. What are you placing your ultimate hope in? What gets you out of bed every day? What calls you back up after you’ve been knocked down? Is it the hope of having fun on the weekend? Is it the hope of having a satisfying career? The hope of finding a greater level of romance or friendship? The hope of raising happy, healthy kids? The hope of being seen as brilliant, beautiful or talented? The hope for fame and recognition? Those are all good things to hope for, but they are not ultimate things, and that means they will ultimately disappoint you even if you get them. These hopes are not strong enough to give you a strong life. Jesus is saying to us today, I am the ultimate hope. I am the resurrection. I am the life. Hold on to that truth this week!

God offers us a gift not based out of our behavior, but out of His grace and generosity. It’s extravagant. It’s undeserved. It’s more than we expect. God offers us His unfair love. When it comes to God’s love for us sometimes we think it’s expected. It’s obligatory. He has to love us…that’s God’s job, right? But this isn’t the kind of love God has for you. This isn’t the love Jesus described in his stories or modeled with his life. In fact, I would say God doesn’t just love you, He likes you. That may seem a little off to you, but check out these verses in Romans. Romans 5:10-11 (NLT): “For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of His Son while we were still His enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of His Son. So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.” If you are a Jesus follower, you are a friend of God. Ever felt like you don’t have a friend in the world? You have a friend in God. You get to choose your friends, and God chooses you. You are not alone!

Pretty much most of what we do and don't do is about trying to maximize the happiness in our worlds. Take the job, don't take the job. Buy the pet, don't buy the pet. Date him or her, dump him or her. Argue with my kids, ignore my kids. Eat the muffin, don't eat the muffin. And while making good decisions is important, and breaking new ground or getting new stuff is fun, this is not the way to maximize happiness. We know this, because that is what everyone does. This is the strategy everyone uses. It is the idea that if I could just get what I want, then I would be happy, but when you look around you don’t see an excess of happiness. But here is the life hack that we are going to see laid out in the Bible—a teaching by Jesus himself. The key to maximizing happiness is not getting what you want, but appreciating what you've been given. If you want to find out how you are doing…look to how much you thank God and thank others for what you already have.

There are lots of studies that show keeping a gratitude journal or having a time each week you thank God for all He’s done has a powerful effect on people. If we all did that stuff, we’d all be happier. But I know how life is. Most of us are just too distracted and busy. So here is my suggestion for you: every time you find yourself complaining, use that moment to thank God for something. If your knee hurts, give thanks that you can walk. Being able to walk is a gift. If your car needs a repair, and you find yourself getting angry, give thanks to God that you have a car to take you places. Having a car is a gift. When your kids will not give you any personal space, give thanks that they are not yet teenagers who never come out of their rooms. And when they are teens in their room, give thanks that they are home, and not off living their own life yet. And when they are living their own life, give thanks you all made it through their teen years without killing anyone. When you wake up and need to go to work for another week, give thanks that God provides. If you’re struggling to find work, thank God for the time and the rest as you pray for work. Work and rest are both gifts. Even in the worst problems you can thank God for showing up and giving you strength to handle it.  Pretty soon gratitude will begin to transform your attitude. Life will become more of a gift. And you will come to know and love the giver of that gift.

You may be facing all kinds of fears today. They are scary. They are hammering on your heart. More than these fears, you need to be alert to the shepherd who is protecting you and the enemy who wants to devour you. You need to be alert to the tactic of the enemy, which is to get to you bolt out from under the care and protection of Jesus. Satan is trying to get you to panic. He is trying to get you to feel vulnerable and question God’s care and control. He’s trying to get you to cut and run. Because as soon as you take matters into your own hands, as soon as you see yourself alone and uncared for in the world, as soon as you become convinced that your good shepherd is a bad shepherd or a powerless shepherd, you are going to bolt…and that is when life will start to eat you up. Problems will start to eat you up. Despair will start to eat you up. Bad habits, addiction, rage, and escapism…they all want to swallow you up. So you need to be alert. Not to what scares you, but to who cares for you. This is why the command in scripture over and over and over is, ‘do not be afraid.’

Check out 1 Peter 5:6-7 (NLT): “So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time He will lift you up in honor. Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.” The Bible says the answer to worry is not to decrease your care and concern…‘Don’t worry.’ Nor is the answer to step up your efforts and totally control the situation. The answer is increased trust in the fact that a powerful God shares your cares. God says, give all your cares to me so I can share them. God says, don’t care less, realize that I care for you and care about all that worries you.

Trust in God’s mighty power. The power that moves mountains. The power that shapes world events. The power who gave His life on a cross. The power that raised Jesus from the dead. The power that is making all things new. The power that will one day come in full, for all to see, the alpha and omega, the lord of the angel armies the king of all the rulers of the earth. To the degree you believe God cares for you is the degree to which you will cast your cares on Him.

Ignite your joy. Renew your awe. Believe God for your miracle. Maybe some of us have just kind of given up on God. We’ve stopped praying and stopped believing things can be different. Today is an opportunity to pause and remember who God is. To reaffirm our faith in Him. To stand in awe of Him and we will start to see Him working in our lives again. He’s been working all the time. Believe God for your miracle. Or maybe you need to be a miracle today for someone else. So many are generous in our church with time, talent and resources and we thank you for that. God turns that generosity into a miracle for others.

Some of you are hurting in your life right now and you need a miracle. It could be a miracle for a work breakthrough, a financial miracle, a health miracle or a relationship miracle. Don’t let a mess you’re in close your heart to the miracle God can do. It may be hard right now, but when you look to the Bible you see people of great faith going through all kinds of difficulties. It may feel impossible right now, but God is the God who puts the possible in impossible. He still shows up and He still moves. Don’t give up on your miracle because all you see around you is a mess. Keep turning to His word to be inspired by the God of miracles. Keep praying for your miracle. Keep holding out for your miracle. Keep gathering at church and in Groups to be inspired by others’ miracles. It may be that you and your story could open the door of faith to someone else who needs God to move. 

We should continually have a sense of amazement with what God is doing. The very fact that we have the good news of Jesus to share is amazing. That good news isn’t just what God did in the past, but that He is showing up today in your life. God's presence is here. He is real and He is available, not because of what we have done, not because we are good enough, not because we have passed some kind of moral sniff test. If God is here, it is not boring. If God is here, it is not routine. If God is here, then chains are dissolving, and people are being set free, empowered and released into new life. And that is radical. It’s life changing. And it's amazing.

God is still moving and working today. He is still changing lives. He is still doing miracles. He is still pouring out his goodness on the people He loves and on the whole world. God is not done with you. He is not done with His church. The best is yet to come because God is not yet done. He is here. He is alive. And we need to call out His wonders to recapture the awe and be amazed.