Challenged By Life By Rev. Daniel Bossidy

Full Gospel Lighthouse Church, Inc. 624 Torringford West St., PO Box 1201, Torrington, CT 06790-1201 Phone: 1-(860)-489-4137 Pastor: Rev. Daniel Bossidy

Challenged By Life There are challenges we all must face in life that will either bring us to the next level of maturity or cement us in mediocrity. Romans 12:1 & 2 gives us a starting point for today’s message. The word “challenge” means, “the quality of requiring full use of one’s abilities, energy, or resources.” We all have a challenge before us. What we do with these challenges will determine our growth. Our Lord Jesus gave us example after example of how to handle different situations. What should be our mind-set facing a test? It’s all a test for us. Summon all of your spiritual, mental, and physical abilities to face the situations you are confronted with. God’s Word has provided the resources to be more than a conqueror! We just need to dig them out and find them. As a young boy, our Lord Jesus was faced with situations even then. Luke 2:40-52 says He waxed strong in spirit, or increased in vigor. He stayed behind in the temple to hear the doctors of the law and to ask questions of them. For three days His parents sought for Him. Verse 48 Mary thought He had done something against them. So here is the 1st recorded challenge He faced. What would the Lord Jesus do? In His answer He questioned her as to why they looked everywhere for Him. They should have known there was only one place He would be found: in the temple. He said, “How is it that ye sought me? Wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?” There is no exact translation for the word “business.” The literal translation is simply, “I must be about my Father.” In other words, He gave Himself wholly to His Father’s will, character, business, service, and kingdom. The Lord Jesus was all about doing the will of God. Nothing else mattered. The Scripture went so far as saying He was misunderstood by His parents, but He went down with them and was subject to them. Even though Nazareth was north of Jerusalem, He went down with them. To the Bible, the place where the House of God was at was the highest place in their lives. To them Jerusalem was the pinnacle of life and their normal activities were on a lower scale of existence. But, “Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.” Many people think their families hinder their growth in God, but Jesus once again proved this a false concept. We are exactly where the Lord has placed us for our potential growth. We can become paralyzed and end our growth as people or we can look at the challenges we face and respond with the knowledge that the Lord knows what is best for us at this time, and that, “…all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.” So it’s not the “things” or circumstances that hinder us: it is what we know about where we are. My place is an opportunity for growth in wisdom and grace. If I have a mature attitude where I am and be an overcomer there, I can be a mature adult and an overcomer in every place the Lord places me! My initial reaction might be to run from the situation, but sometimes we need to understand where we are and what is the most important thing in this place we’re at. Is it an opportunity for growth, expression of God’s will, or learning how to be gracious and leave the results with Him? Jesus corrected His mother in a couple of areas with His answer. 1st, His motive was being around the things of His Father. 2nd, His Father was not Joseph. He made clear to her that His Father was the Almighty. This

simple statement did not take away from the importance of Joseph in His life, but a reminder to His mother Mary that what she conceived in her womb was from the Holy Ghost. The next challenge we read of is in chapter 3 of Luke. This challenge was whether He would submit Himself to the will of the Father in being baptized of John. Here He was, the Creator of humanity, in the flesh, submitting to the will of the Father. It was never about accomplishing His own will anyways. Jesus was all about the will of the Father, for only then could He lead humanity back into right standing with God. We were “out of the will.” Jesus Christ put us back into the will of God. In Matthew 3:14 John said to Him, “I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?” Jesus submitted to the will of the Father, even though the vessel was well aware of his own needs and lacks. The most perfect being ever to walk the face of the earth was submitting to a human tool that God was using. Isn’t it difficult for people to surrender their will under someone who is “inferior” to them? But the Lord approached this scenario with grace by saying, “Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness.” God in the flesh took a situation where one was admittedly completely inadequate and made Him a partner in the kingdom of God! He brought John into a relationship with Christ that no one else had. There was a special bond between them that lasted a lifetime. There was a connection together, an experience shared that fulfilled all righteousness. We miss this when the Lord asks us to do something. People need relational ties to each other and God. John told people after this, “Behold the Lamb of God!” (John 1:2936) John said, “This is He!” John knew Him because of the experience they had. “This is the Son of God!” Do you know Him in 1st-hand experiences? If not, why not? What is hindering you from entering in to His promises and knowing Him, the author and finisher of our faith? We have been given challenges of life and our Lord Jesus Christ is our greatest example in dealing with these things that come our way. Take the time to learn of Him and follow Him. It will transform your life. Become renewed in the spirit of your mind and prove what is that good, and acceptable and perfect will of God. The song writer wrote, “If I never had a problem, I wouldn’t know that God could solve them; I wouldn’t know what faith in God could do.” Your challenges will not defeat you and they shouldn’t discourage you to the point of giving up. Remember: Jesus Christ overcame the world and if He is in you, you have the greatest overcoming power in the entire world. There is nothing that can defeat the person who puts their entire faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ! In closing, the Bible says, “Being confident in this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6). The Apostle Paul had confidence in the people he wrote to, that church that he loved so dearly. So many challenges faced Paul in birthing that church, but Paul expressed his confidence in the One who called him to that place, and to the people he so willing gave his life for. You can be sure that if the Lord has begun a good work in you that He will perform it and continue to perform it until the day of Jesus Christ! You can go forward in confidence in Him who loves you. No matter what comes your way, no matter what situation arises, no matter how many times you fail or others let you down, the Lord will always be there to pick you up and send you forth again into His perfect will! Just don’t get weary in well-doing, for you shall reap if you faint not. May God richly bless you today. Let faith arise in your heart and walk with the Lord. He will reveal Himself to you and lead you on to victory in His name. Amen. Rev. Daniel Bossidy, Pastor of the Full Gospel Lighthouse Church Torrington, CT 860-489-4137