The story is told that Michelangelo is walking though a stone yard one day when he saw a block of granite and he said “I must let the angel out of that rock” He began to work on the stone until he had carved the stone to a beautiful angel. God sees in us far more in us than we see in ourselves. He sees more than we can imagine possible. It has always been God’s desire to release that which He placed in us. John offers in our text, the first glimpse of a man who will become one of the most influential apostles. When we meet him here, he is far from what he would become. There was something inside Simon that God would eventually transform into Peter. God saw something there that was hidden inside. God saw beyond all the shortcomings, and sees what can become when His love and His Grace are applied. God knows how to do it, if we will just yield to His touch.

Few of us know all that God had to work through in Simon’s life that was trying to defeat God’s purpose. Jesus would have to battle issues in Simon before he could work out that better man. There are three specific roadblocks that Jesus had to go through in order to release the man inside Simon.

The first thing that God had to deal with was Simon’s own personality. Simon was known among his peers as someone who was hotheaded, mouthy, and brash. Many people let their mouth overload them. They come to God, but they do not bring their sharp tongue to Him. Eventually Simon allowed God to bring his personality under His grace and this allowed the man inside to come forth. The second thing God had to deal with was Simon’s heredity. We all have a history. We all have baggage. There are some people who excuse their failures based upon their parents, their upbringing or their history. If we will let grace have say in our life, God can release the better man inside. We do not have to be a victim of our past. Finally God had to deal with his environment. Simon was from Bethsaida. Bethsaida was a bad place that the bible tells us that Jesus passed judgment over. God was able to overcome the wickedness of this environment to bring Peter out of Simon.

If Grace can have a say in our life, it can overcome our personality, our past and our environment to release the man or woman that God desires for us to be.

The title of tonight’s message is a bit shocking. As strange as giving up may sound, Bro. Hughes believes that it is the best option. After all that we have gone through, we would be best served is to give up. According to Solomon, there is a time for everything. Our text tells us that there is a time to cast stones and a time to gather together. There is a time to get and a time to lose. And Bro. Hughes tells us that tonight is a time to quit. Most of us understand that the definition of giving up is to quit. That is however not what Bro. Hughes is saying. We do not need to admit defeat or to abandon hope. Another definition of giving up is to surrender; to abandon one’s self for a cause. So Bro. Hughes’ advise is to give up and surrender things in life that we are trying to work out on our own and allow God to work them out. It is time for us tot quit playing God and let God do what He can do. Today would be a good day for someone to give up and surrender to God and quit tying to answer all the questions of life and let God determine the outcome. Today is a great day to give up.

The title of tonight’s message is a bit shocking. As strange as giving up may sound, Bro. Hughes believes that it is the best option. After all that we have gone through, we would be best served is to give up. According to Solomon, there is a time for everything. Our text tells us that there is a time to cast stones and a time to gather together. There is a time to get and a time to lose. And Bro. Hughes tells us that tonight is a time to quit. Most of us understand that the definition of giving up is to quit. That is however not what Bro. Hughes is saying. We do not need to admit defeat or to abandon hope. Another definition of giving up is to surrender; to abandon one’s self for a cause. So Bro. Hughes’ advise is to give up and surrender things in life that we are trying to work out on our own and allow God to work them out. It is time for us tot quit playing God and let God do what He can do. Today would be a good day for someone to give up and surrender to God and quit tying to answer all the questions of life and let God determine the outcome. Today is a great day to give up.

Tonight’s scripture is an example of faithfulness. Shadrack, Meshack and Abed-nego were faithful to God in defiance of Nebuchadnezzar. These young Hebrew boys were strangers to Babylon and had attained a position of favor with the king. They had been faithful in their worship of God, and this angered the native Babylonian princes who were jealous of them. The Babylonian princes set a trap. The trap was to use Shadrack, Meshack and Abed-nego’s own faith against them. The young Hebrews declared that God would deliver them, but even if He did not, they would not bow to Nebuchadnezzar’s golden statue. God is looking for people who have faith that He will deliver them but if not, they will still serve Him.

Tonight’s scripture is an example of faithfulness. Shadrack, Meshack and Abed-nego were faithful to God in defiance of Nebuchadnezzar. These young Hebrew boys were strangers to Babylon and had attained a position of favor with the king. They had been faithful in their worship of God, and this angered the native Babylonian princes who were jealous of them. The Babylonian princes set a trap. The trap was to use Shadrack, Meshack and Abed-nego’s own faith against them. The young Hebrews declared that God would deliver them, but even if He did not, they would not bow to Nebuchadnezzar’s golden statue. God is looking for people who have faith that He will deliver them but if not, they will still serve Him.

Jesus has a way of finding those who need Him. Jesus did not say that he needed to go through Samaria. He did not declare to the disciples that He had to go to Samaria, but John records that “he needs go through Samaria.” To get from where he was to Galilee, was not an easy journey both in terms of distance and physical demands to climb out of the Jordan valley. This was an all day journey and by the time Jesus gets to Jacob’s well he is exhausted. He there encounters a Samaritan woman. When the disciples returned from town they were quite concerned. John tells is this story some sixty years after Jesus’ death and for him to have the details indicates that he must have gotten them from the woman herself. Bro. Hughes gives us the history of this passage and reveals that this meeting was one of the most important in Jesus’ ministry and has a direct connection to Peter’s message on the day of Pentecost. Jesus did not come to save the saved, but to save the lost. He went to the well to find the woman because He knew she would be there. Jacob dug the well to mark his territory and Jesus came to this well to stake His territory of those He came to save. The little lady that came to the well that day with all the troubles of her life in tow was transformed that day. She has a revelation that day that Jesus was the Christ, and she left her old life behind and went back to town and converted the entire town. This story tells us that Jesus went miles out of His way to change this woman’s life and he will also go out of His way to find us.

Jesus has a way of finding those who need Him. Jesus did not say that he needed to go through Samaria. He did not declare to the disciples that He had to go to Samaria, but John records that “he needs go through Samaria.” To get from where he was to Galilee, was not an easy journey both in terms of distance and physical demands to climb out of the Jordan valley. This was an all day journey and by the time Jesus gets to Jacob’s well he is exhausted. He there encounters a Samaritan woman. When the disciples returned from town they were quite concerned. John tells is this story some sixty years after Jesus’ death and for him to have the details indicates that he must have gotten them from the woman herself. Bro. Hughes gives us the history of this passage and reveals that this meeting was one of the most important in Jesus’ ministry and has a direct connection to Peter’s message on the day of Pentecost. Jesus did not come to save the saved, but to save the lost. He went to the well to find the woman because He knew she would be there. Jacob dug the well to mark his territory and Jesus came to this well to stake His territory of those He came to save. The little lady that came to the well that day with all the troubles of her life in tow was transformed that day. She has a revelation that day that Jesus was the Christ, and she left her old life behind and went back to town and converted the entire town. This story tells us that Jesus went miles out of His way to change this woman’s life and he will also go out of His way to find us.

The devil is not able to cause us to do anything, but he is a master at setting traps and snares. One of these is found in our text and is the snare of worry. We live in an age of stress, pressure and anxiety. We look around today and see the affects of worry on people’s faces. We see it demonstrated in their attitudes. We can see the physical effects in general poor health. We worry about finances, identity theft, having enough, budget woes, job pressures, life and death and a host of other things. In spite of all this worry we are still alive and still in relative good health. Over the course of a lifetime, worry accounts for many valuable hours of lost time. Worry is destructive in many ways. It is a suppresser and often impacts our worship. Worry is more than a worship killer, it will steal blessing and hope. None of us are exempt from worry. If we are not careful, worry will cause us to focus on our bodies and we can miss the blessings that God has for us. The promises of God are not based upon our abilities or talents; they are based upon His word and His ability to perform. Bro. Hughes extols us to get our eyes off of our bodies, and our limitations, and focus on what God has to say. If God said it, it is settled. The way to live in troubled times is to not worry and continue to praise the Lord. In troubled times remember that God can do abundantly exceeding all expectation. The simple truth of our text is that it clearly defines God’s role and our role. Jesus shows us an attitude that can be transformational. This is the antidote to worry: Remember that God gave life and only God can sustain life. God is the one that will give the fruit for the labor. Secondly, as a child of God, we must learn to accept uncertainty. We do not know it all. It is not to know why some suffer and others do not. We simply have to trust it all to God. Thirdly we have to challenge our thoughts. Not every thought is a valid or worthy thought. Some thoughts must be challenged. Our mind can play tricks on us, so we must challenge some of the things that come into our mind. Finally we have to let God be enough. He said, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and all this will be added unto you.” God is enough. If we can do these four things we can drive worry from our mind.

The devil is not able to cause us to do anything, but he is a master at setting traps and snares. One of these is found in our text and is the snare of worry. We live in an age of stress, pressure and anxiety. We look around today and see the affects of worry on people’s faces. We see it demonstrated in their attitudes. We can see the physical effects in general poor health. We worry about finances, identity theft, having enough, budget woes, job pressures, life and death and a host of other things. In spite of all this worry we are still alive and still in relative good health. Over the course of a lifetime, worry accounts for many valuable hours of lost time. Worry is destructive in many ways. It is a suppresser and often impacts our worship. Worry is more than a worship killer, it will steal blessing and hope. None of us are exempt from worry. If we are not careful, worry will cause us to focus on our bodies and we can miss the blessings that God has for us. The promises of God are not based upon our abilities or talents; they are based upon His word and His ability to perform. Bro. Hughes extols us to get our eyes off of our bodies, and our limitations, and focus on what God has to say. If God said it, it is settled. The way to live in troubled times is to not worry and continue to praise the Lord. In troubled times remember that God can do abundantly exceeding all expectation. The simple truth of our text is that it clearly defines God’s role and our role. Jesus shows us an attitude that can be transformational. This is the antidote to worry: Remember that God gave life and only God can sustain life. God is the one that will give the fruit for the labor. Secondly, as a child of God, we must learn to accept uncertainty. We do not know it all. It is not to know why some suffer and others do not. We simply have to trust it all to God. Thirdly we have to challenge our thoughts. Not every thought is a valid or worthy thought. Some thoughts must be challenged. Our mind can play tricks on us, so we must challenge some of the things that come into our mind. Finally we have to let God be enough. He said, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and all this will be added unto you.” God is enough. If we can do these four things we can drive worry from our mind.

Life does not come with an instruction manual. We come into this world and begin living. In that living we face many things. There are no crystal balls that can give us a vision of how life will turn out. Some will look at life and say life is killing me. Another will look at the same set of circumstances and describe their life as wonderful.

Our text is an example of that principle. The first ten verses of the psalm are dark and dismal, while the remaining ten are upbeat and optimistic. Some have speculated that two different people wrote it, but in fact it was the same man. What was the difference? Somehow he found an adjustment in his life and they way he looked at it. Now the same man that minutes before was questioning if God even knew where he was, saw things in a completely different light. In the opening nine verses, the writer makes 22 personal references and only 11 times does he reference God. He is talking about his problems and his troubles twice as often as he is talking about God. This is indicative of a man whose problems were bigger than his God. In the last nine verses, his attitude changes. He only mentions himself 3 times while he mentions God 22 times.

Life really does depend upon how you see it. Is life going to kill you? Are your troubles going to get the best of you? It all depends upon how you look at it.

How do you have an outlook like the latter part of this Psalm rather than the first part? Learn how to saturate yourself with a sense of God. Realize that your life is in His hands. You cannot dwell upon your problems and be healed.

Is your life going to get better? It all depends upon how you look at it.