Outline For Sunday 4/6/2008

UNWANTED ANSWERS
Dealing With God’s Answers

INTRO - How many times have you asked a question, hoping for one answer, and got another, you an answer you didn’t want?
• You want to do a church program. Your friends at church say go for it, it sounds good. You put a bunch of effort into it and the church leadership comes along and says we want some one else to do it....
• On the job a co-worker is driving you nuts, keeping you form doing your job.... and you can’t stand it any more, you’re ready to haul off and whop him one but you hold off and ask management to remove him from your area so you can continue doing your job and all they can say is grow up.
• You knew what you did was wrong but it felt good and you wanted to do it besides no one else would ever know. A few days later you’re called in for questioning and to try to cover things up you ask if they have any idea who did it and you’re told that you were caught doing it on the hidden security camera....
• You work hard and always do your job, you are loyal to the company as they are always loyal to you and than you’re new assignment comes along and it involves going somewhere you’d rather not go to do something you don’t really want to do. You ask to get out of it but you’re told you’re the only one for the job.
How do we respond to unwanted answers? How do we respond when they are from God? Each of these modern day scenarios is based on a story from the Bible in which someone received an unwanted answer fro God. Let’s see how they responded

I. WORSHIP OR SCOFF - Our first story comes from the book of 2 Samuel and involves King David.
A. To Build A Temple
1. 2 Sm 7:1-3
2. 2 Sm 7:4-6,12-13
B. Two Ways To Respond - David had great plans for God, he wanted to build Him a temple. He told his plans to Nathan who in turn gave him the okay. God had different plans. As we look at this first story there are two words we need to think about, two ways in which David could have responded.
1. Worship - The first way David could have responded was with worship.
a. It was God Himself who wrote the beginning words of what we call the ten commandments. Ex 20:1-5
b. Later David wrote in the Psalms - Ps 95:6-7
2. Scoff - The opposite response would be one of scoffing.
a. An example of scoffers comes from the Pharisee. Lk 16:13-14
b. In the Psalms we read of the same kind of people. Ps 73:11
C. David’s Response - 2 Sm 7:18-22,25-26. - David chose to worship.
1. He went before God
2. He humbled himself
3. He praised God
II. ACCEPTANCE OR REJECTION - Our Second story comes from the 1 Corinthians and involves the Apostle Paul.
A. To Remove A Thorn
1. 2 Co 12:1-7
2. 2 Co 12:8-9a
B. Two Ways To Respond - Paul had two ways to respond To God’s answer to his prayer.
1. Accept - When Paul received a No to his prayer he could have accepted it.
a. It was Job who said we should be able to accept the things that are not good - Jb 2:10
b. When Eli received a message of “bad” he accepted - 1 Sm 3:18
2. Reject - The other possibility was that of rejection. Paul could have ignored God’s answer and tried to remove the thorn himself.
a. People have the tendency to reject God’s words - 2 Tm 4:3
C. Paul’s Response - 2 Co 12:9b-10. - Paul chose to accept
1. He chose to boast in his weakness
2. He chose to be content
3. He accepted God’s ways as better.
a. Rm 8:28
b. Is 55:8-9
c. Jr 10:23

III. REPENTANCE OR IMPENITENCE - Our third story returns on to the book of 2 Samuel and to David.
A. To Cover Up
1. 2 Sm 11:1-5,14-15
2. 2 Sm12:1-7a
B. Two Ways To Respond - Again we will look at two ways in which David could respond.
1. Repentance - The first way to respond is to go to God and repent.
a. Repentance has been taught by
(1) John The Baptist - Mt 3:1-2
(2) Jesus - Mt 4:17
(3) The Twelve - Mk 6:7-12
(4) Peter Ac 2:38
b. It’s what God wants Ek 18:21-23
2. Impenitence - on the flip side of repentance is Impenitence - Revelations tells of these kind of people.
a. Rv 9:20-21.
b. Rv 16:8-11
C. David’s Response - Ps 51:1-19
1. He confesses his sin
2. He asks for pardon or cleansing
3. He asks for restoration

IV. SUBMISSION OR REBELLION - Our last story brings us to Jesus Himself in the Garden of Gethsemane.
A. To Avoid Death
1. Mt 26:36-46
2. Mt 26:47-50
B. Two Ways To Respond
1. Submit - Jesus had a choice when it came to God’s will for Him to be there. He had the ability to choose to submit
a. Like Mary when she learned of her pregnancy Lk 1:38.
b. Paul reminds us that we should submit - Rm 6:13
2. Rebel - Jesus once said he could have called legions of angels to rescue Him, He could have gone against God’s will, he could have rebelled
a. Samuel had some words for us on rebellion - 1 Sm 12:15
b. 1 Sm 15:23
C. Jesus’ Response - Jesus had to make one tough decision - Mt 27:45-50

CONCL - Times are going to come when we will receive answers that we will not like, we will not want, and when they come form God we will have to respond to them in some way. The question is how will we respond? Will we respond with:
• Worship or scoffing
• Acceptance or rejection
• Repentance or impenitence
• Submission or rebellion
The choices are ours to make.