If you’re going through a difficult time, we’ve got some good news.

Steve Brown:
If you’re going through a difficult time, we’ve got some good news on this edition of Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
This is Key Life. We’re here to let you know that because of what Jesus has done, God will never be angry at you again. Steve invited our friend Jerry Q. Parries to do the teaching this week. Jerry is a pastor, an author, and has served in ministry for more than 35 years.

Steve Brown:
Thank you Matthew. Hey, we have a great week ahead of us. One of my favorite people in the entire world is Dr. Jerry Parries. We’ve been friends. We disagree about a lot.

Jerry Parries:
Oh, yes we do.

Steve Brown:
But I’m right. And you’re wrong. You do it your way. I’ll do it God’s way. And we love each other and everybody knows that we do. And incidentally, as you know, if you’ve been listening to this broadcast, Jerry is one of the Voices of Key Life. And whenever he teaches, we get incredible responses from you guys. I think you like him not as much as I do, but you like him a whole lot too. So, this week is going to be great, and we’re going to be talking about how to trust God in difficult times. And as an aside, and then we’ll pray Dr. Parries has recently received a not so wonderful physical diagnosis. Now, we think it’s going to be alright And so, when he speaks, he’s not speaking as an outsider, he’s speaking as somebody who’s going to apply what he’s going to be teaching me and you during this week to himself. So, let’s pray, and then we’ll get down. Father, we don’t like the difficult times, we don’t like the darkness and the hard places, but we like you. And we know that you’re our Father, that you’re sovereign, and that we can trust you in everything. We pray for this week, that you would anoint the teaching, that Dr. Parries gives us. And use it for your glory and blessing of your people. And we pray in Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Jerry Parries:
Amen.

Steve Brown:
Well, I expect that after this week is over, I’ll be a spiritual giant. I’ll be able to deal with all the hard and dark places. I was telling you, I’ve been working on a new book.

Jerry Parries:
Mm hmm.

Steve Brown:
And when you came into my study, I was typing on a chapter on the Fall.

Jerry Parries:
Yeah.

Steve Brown:
Original sin. And I don’t think most Christians take that very seriously. I mean, there’s a lot of good news, but there is some bad news, too.

Jerry Parries:
Yeah. Yes, indeed. Yes, indeed. Because of the Fall. You know, our bodies are dust, you know, and we have things that go wrong in our lives and sickness comes upon us. And not because of God, but because of the Fall. And things happen in our lives that sometimes are troubling, but we have a God that can help us and God that can see us through it, in the midst of it, as he did Adam, when Adam failed. He covered him, he covered him.

Steve Brown:
That’s true.

Jerry Parries:
You know, and protected him and those kind of things.

Steve Brown:
Do we sometimes think when bad things happen and we did something bad, and if we could be gooder, bad things wouldn’t happen to us.

Jerry Parries:
Yes, that’s the first time, that’s the first thing that we think. But Romans let us know very clearly, in Romans 5th chapter, the first verse is about, what is it, Romans 5 and 1,

Wherefore being justified by faith. We have peace with God through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

And then it picks up and says.

But not only that, but we can rejoice too in that when we run into problems and trials, we know that they are there to help us to develop.

So, here’s what God is saying. God is saying, even though you may run into problems, even though you may run into trials, it is not because I’m mad with you, because I justified you, you have peace with me. I’m not mad with you. I’m happy. But when trials do come in your life, know that they’re coming to accomplish something, and that is to help you to develop your faith and develop your patience and develop your love and all of those great things.

Steve Brown:
Oh, that’s so good. Let me read some Scripture that you have brought up, and then I want you to talk to us.

Jerry Parries:
Yes sir.

Steve Brown:
Proverbs 3:5 says.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him, and he shall direct your paths.

And then in Proverbs 3:5

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.

And then one more that you told us that we ought to study is Isaiah 55:9.

For the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Jerry Parries:
Yeah, yeah. In difficult times, when you’re going through difficult times, you need to understand that you have to put your trust in the Lord. And don’t lean to your own understanding. When we were talking, and I walked in your office, I do want to just share that I was diagnosed with prostate cancer. And during this moment is like, wow, God, what is going on? I didn’t expect that to be the diagnosis. I actually went to the doctor for something totally different. And then this year, Steve, this year I’ve lost three family members, my two sisters and my niece, all one month after the other. I mean, it’s like raining when it pours. You know, they said when it rains it pours.

Steve Brown:
They’re going to change your name, Jerry Job.

Jerry Parries:
And so, how do you get through these dark moments of your life in difficult times? Well.

You’ve got to trust the Lord and lean not to thy own understanding.

That’s a key part, is if you try to figure out what God is doing, you’re going to frustrate yourself. You’ve got to have a box, I preached a message one time that you’ve got to have a file cabinet in your heart that’s called, I don’t understand box. And when things happen in your life, you have to just come to the conclusion, I’m going to put this in the I don’t understand box. And you have to be okay with not having the total answers to everything that is going on in your life. You’ve got to make sure that God, I’m trusting you, even though I can’t trace you. And that’s what you have to do. You have to put your full trust, God loves me so much. Man, I’m one of God’s favorite. Well, Pastor Jerry, if you’re one of God’s favorite, why are you going through so much? I don’t know? That’s in the I don’t know box, but here’s what I do know. I know that he loves me. I know that he cares about me and I know that he is going to walk me through whatever I’m going through because that’s how I get through difficult moments. I put my trust in God and I don’t lean to my own understanding. The last point I want to make is God’s thoughts is higher than mine. The way I think, I think everything ought to be fine in my life.

Steve Brown:
Yeah, well me too.

Jerry Parries:
Yeah, I think I ought to be rich. I think I ought to be healthy. I think I ought to be able to live any place I want to live, buy anything I want to buy. That’s what I would want for my life. But God’s thoughts are higher than my thoughts. So, it is different than the way that I think, he sees the totality of everything that is happening in my life. And so, I’m going to relinquish my wheel into his wheel to trust that he knows what’s best for me. And when I do that, I could make it through difficult times because I know he promised never to leave me, nor forsake me. He’s going to be with me. And I know that he’s there to help me through any situation.

Steve Brown:
Oh man, that is so good. And so, and it presupposes, doesn’t it? The doctrine of the sovereignty of God. I mean, he’s big, he’s in charge of this mess.

Jerry Parries:
Yeah, yeah. And you trust him. I trust the Lord. I remember when Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane, and when Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane, he said.

Lord, I am sorrowful, and even unto death.

This is in Matthew’s 26 chapter, he says.

If it’s possible, please let this cup pass for me.

And there’s times when you have family members that you don’t want to see go to glory and go to heaven. You said, God, please do this, please do this. But then Jesus came to the point where he says.

Not my will, but thy will be done.

And he was able to relax in the peace, in the hands of the Lord. And when you do that with your troubles.

Not my will, but thy will be done.

You know that God is going to take care of you, and he’s going to make everything work out for your good. For all things work together, all things are not good, but he works together for our good, for them that love the Lord.

Steve Brown:
And if you do that by faith, it becomes a reality, doesn’t it?

Jerry Parries:
Yeah.

Steve Brown:
There is a calmness and a peace that comes along with saying, I’m giving this to you and I trust you. I don’t like it. You don’t have to like it. Do you?

Jerry Parries:
No.

There’s a peace that pass of all understanding.

And that’s a peace that’s a, people say, well man, you should be upset. I mean, this is crazy. No.

There’s a peace that pass of all understanding.

Because I’m putting my trust in God. Trust in the Lord with some of your heart. No, the Bible didn’t say that. All of your hearts, I am putting all of my trust in that basket, believe in God.

Steve Brown:
Oh man, that’s so good. And you do that, I’ve seen you do it over and over again.

Jerry Parries:
I have to.

Steve Brown:
Well, you know, you do trust God and I do too, but it takes a while for me. Before I trust God, I cuss and spit and kick and tell him, how could you do this to me? And tell him you’d have more friends if you treated the ones you had a little bit better. And then I repent, and eventually I get to where you get. So, if you’re going through a hard time, trust him anyway. You think about that. Amen.

Matthew Porter:
Thank you Steve Brown and Jerry Parries. Today kicks off a week of teaching from them on How to Trust God in Difficult Times. It sounds like a topic you could benefit from? Man, I know I need to hear it. So, let’s tune in all this week and we can learn together. Well, have you recently begun a relationship with Jesus? Well, if so, then there’s just one thing to say, welcome to the family. We have a terrific resource, you’re going to love. It’s a book from Steve called, well, Welcome to the Family. For a new believer, it offers solid instruction and guidance for growing up in Christ. And for the mature believer, it’s a dynamite back to the basics guide. And for a minimum donation of $15 to Key Life, this book is our gift to you. Just call us at 1-800-KEY-LIFE that’s 1-800-539-5433. You can also e-mail [email protected] to order that book. Or to mail your request, go to keylife.org/contact to find our mailing addresses for the U.S. and Canada. And finally, if you’re blessed by the work of Key Life, would you help share that blessing with others through your financial support? Giving is easy, just charge a gift on your credit card or include a gift in your envelope. Or you can now give through text, just text Key Life to 28950. And as always, if you can’t give right now, or maybe you’re just not called to, all good. But please do pray for us, would you? Always, always appreciated. Key Life is a member of ECFA in the States and CCCC in Canada. And Key Life is a listener supported production of Key Life Network.