Sermon Notes 09-14-08

September 14th, 2008 “How To Survive Your Worst Day”
“And Saul was there, giving approval to his (Stephen’s) death. On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. 2Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. 3But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison.” Acts 6:1-3

Illustration: Two days after her seventeenth birthday, Laura Welch had a friend in her car and the wind in her hair. The world was young in 1963—from Laura’s music, school, and friends, up to the young couple in the White House, John and Jackie Kennedy. Whatever problems Laura had were minor ones, and this day was meant for driving, listening to the radio, and chatting with her girlfriend.

What will you do in the wake of the worst moment of your life? At an intersection of tragedy or crisis, will that day drive you from your faith—or to a new depth of trust in God, who wants to use every moment for good?
In the early days of the church, many people who witnessed the murder of Stephen felt it was the worst day of their lives.
Stephen had been one of the most popular and effective men in the early church.
Stephen was godly to the core and filled with grace, and love, and the ability to do signs and wonders as he prayed in the name of Jesus.
Stephen was one of a kind, and many people looked up to him. Thousands of new believers worshiped in Jerusalem, and most of them must have loved Stephen.
But a flash of violence erupted at a key intersection for the church. Without warning, the unbelievable became a reality. Stephen was arrested, charged, and executed. The enemies of the church took off their gloves and stoned Stephen, breaking his body and leaving him lifeless on the rocks of the killing place.
Acts 8:1 “And Saul was there, giving approval to [Stephen’s] death.”

Points To Ponder:
1st To survive the worst day of your life, remember whom God is!
How do you survive the “Worst Day of Your Life?”

I’ve got the call many time: “Come, mom; dad; my baby: their gone!”
Many of us can easily point to a day when everything went wrong.
As with Laura Welch Bush, maybe it was a car accident. Perhaps it was a sudden heart attack. Or the sudden death of a soul mate. It could have come with a personal financial crisis, or the diagnosis of a medical problem.
For the early Christians, Stephen’s funeral only promised more funerals; it now became open season on Christians.
They escaped Jerusalem, but the persecution followed them throughout Judea. Then it followed them through Samaria.
They ran toward Galilee, Asia, Egypt, and Rome, pulling up roots and trying to carry enough stuff to pay for the journey but Saul would be willing to travel more than 125 difficult miles—either on foot or on an uncomfortable donkey—to arrest Christians in Damascus.
Imagine the hatred that would make a man travel that far. Imagine the fear of those who were hiding!

Bad things happen to good people! Nothing in the Bible, nothing in the nature of God suggests that bad things won’t happen in the course of life. If you live long enough, some things will, in fact, nearly crush you.

But know this: “The worst day of your life” does not change the nature of God, or the nature of God’s love for you.
The worst day of your life is just that—the worst day of your life—but God is not damaged or “Lessened” by your worst day—REALIZE WHOM GOD IS!

When your world is falling apart—God’s plan for your life will still be intact!

The church had “The Worst Day of Their Existence”, the killing of Stephen—but God had not left them!

Points To Ponder:
1st To survive the worst day of your life, remember whom God is!
2nd To survive the worst day of your life, remember what God can do!

A. Acts 8:4 “4Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went”

Tragedy and persecution caused the church to really get serious about the spreading of the “Good News!”
The New Church realized that they were in a battle for the heart of their countrymen!
Laura Bush looks back on that terrible accident as the day she became serious about life. There would be no more childish pursuits, no more laughing through the days as if life would last forever, and no more casual attitude toward the things of God.
The next time she went to church, she went with a passion that would mold her—and mold her—until she was a woman whose faith was strong enough to help mold a president.

B. Because of Laura’s faith she was able to re-shape the heart of our president and on September 11, 2001, following the worst attack of terrorism in American history, America saw a leader with solid spiritual footing:

President Bush: “On 9/11, our nation saw the face of evil. Yet on that awful day, we also witnessed something distinctly American: ordinary citizens rising to the occasion, and responding with extraordinary acts of courage. We saw courage in office workers who were trapped on the high floors of burning skyscrapers -- and called home so that their last words to their families would be of comfort and love. We saw courage in passengers aboard Flight 93, who recited the 23rd Psalm -- and then charged the cockpit. And we saw courage in the Pentagon staff who made it out of the flames and smoke -- and ran back in to answer cries for help. On this day, we remember the innocent who lost their lives -- and we pay tribute to those who gave their lives so that others might live.”

Could God have been at work throughout all of Laura’s life, at work after the worst day of her life so long ago, helping her help us through one of our nation’s worst days?

C. The “Worst Day” for the new church in Jerusalem—the killing of Stephen and the persecution, became the “Best Day” for them—Acts 8:4 ““4Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.”

They spread word about Jesus in Joppa.
They planted churches in Cyprus.
They started a Bible study in Alexandria.
They baptized new believers in Ephesus.
They wrote letters, recorded the Gospel in writing, and took the message of Jesus to every corner of the world!

D. Why did the “Worst Day” make it the “Best Day” for the church?1. Before Stephen’s death shook the church to its very foundation, the church was a happy place, a perfect place even, a group of people with almost no troubles or fears.

Sometimes it takes “Very Bad Days” to get us to move!
2. God used persecution to chase the gospel to every corner of the world.

E. Jesus gave us the perfect example of how the church is to operate!
Luke 7:37-38 “37A certain immoral woman heard Jesus was there and brought a beautiful jar filled with expensive perfume. 38Then she knelt behind him at his feet, weeping. Her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them off with her hair. Then she kept kissing his feet and putting perfume on them.”

The “immoral woman” according the Jewish law should have not even been allowed to be in the same house with Jesus—but she was!
The “immoral woman” should not even been able to touch Jesus—but she did!
The “immoral woman” should not even been spoken to—but Jesus did!
You see: “When you had your “Worst Day” and you come to Jesus—He makes your day—“The Best Day of the rest of your life!”

Points To Ponder:
1st To survive the worst day of your life, remember whom God is!
2nd To survive the worst day of your life, remember what God can do!
3rd To survive the worst day of your life, allow God to work through you!

A. Acts l8:5 “Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Christ there.”

The most important part of the story about Stephen’s death and the persecution of the believers may be contained in a simple phrase from verse 5: “Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Christ there.”
Philip is one of the “seven” deacons chose in Acts 6:5—he was “friends” with Stephen—they worked the kitchen and the waiting on the tables together!
Did it hurt Philip to see his buddy Stephen murdered?
BUT—Philip did something about his “Worst Day”—he didn’t turn away from his faith, he didn’t turn away from God—he turned his “Worst Day” into the “Best Day”!
Philip became an evangelist and took the “Good News” to “Samaria”–“5 “Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Christ there.”

Pastor Phil says: “When the worst day of your life comes, you’ll have to either abandon your faith as useless, or keep your faith as the only thing of value in your life!”

A lady told me: “God will use the death of my son to save him!”
A lady told me: “My death will bring my husband to know the Lord!” And it did!
God can use the worst day of your life to take your faith into new areas of strength, to work miracles in the wake of tragedy, to bring good out of something that is no good at all.

Conclusion: When Philip allowed God to walk with him after the worst day of his life, great things happened quickly.

While in Samaria, Philip did the kinds of things Stephen had done, things that had marked the ministry of Jesus. Demons took off running, and miracles happened. With shrieks, evil spirits came out of many, and many paralytics and cripples were healed. So there was great joy in that city. (Acts 8:5–8)
At the end of the passage above, it says , “There was great joy in that city.” It was “mega-joy,” to translate the original Greek.
We have “mega” things today—“mega-sized” soft drinks and French fries, “bigger-and-better” mega-sized products on store shelves, the biggest of the big.
And that’s what that city had--they had giant overwhelming joy, the best-days-of-your-life kind of joy, all introduced to them through Philip, who was still reeling from the worst day of his life.

What will you do with your “Worst Day of Your Life?” Illustration: While I was pasturing in Visalia I formed a men’s quartet and my bass’s name was Gary Chisamore! Gary’s worst day came far too suddenly. Never had a community seen a man so passionately devoted to his wife, Ann. She was the light of his life, the diamond of his existence. He was a hopeless romantic, and their marriage was on display for their church and their community. She died suddenly, without warning, a broken blood vessel taking her life before she could say good-bye.