January 20, 2019 PM
Dr. Michael Catt - 1876
#3 in series
Jesus, Take the Wheel
2 Corinthians 2:12-17
REVIEW
Last week we were reminded of Dr. Warren Wiersbe’s sentiments that “we live by promises, not explanations.” When suffering and hurt step into our lives, we have a choice to engage or withdraw, to face it or flee. Without the affliction, we never truly know the God of all comfort. All comfort is found in Him – there is no real comfort anywhere else! As we experience His comfort, we should turn and extend it to others. Don’t waste your sorrows. Find someone and comfort them.
For further study, this series is available online at sherwoodbaptist.net/messages.
Carrie Underwood’s ï¬rst single “Jesus Take the Wheel” was released in October 2005. It spent six weeks at #1 and won two Grammy Awards. These words are an honest confession of need: Fifty miles to go, and she was running low on faith and gasoline. It’d been a long hard year. She had a lot on her mind and she didn’t pay attention. She was going way too fast. Before she knew it she was spinning on a thin black sheet of glass. She saw both their lives flash before her eyes. She didn’t even have time to cry. She was so scared, she threw her hands up in the air. Jesus, take the wheel, take it from my hands, ‘cause I can’t do this on my own.
I. PERSPECTIVE CHANGES WHEN YOU'RE NOT DRIVING
Paul mentions Troas, a large seaport city on the Aegean Sea ten miles from the ancient city of Troy. It’s likely he met Luke here on his second missionary journey. Here he had the vision of the man from Macedonia compelling him to share the gospel. Paul writes this letter on his third missionary journey. Paul and Titus had a deï¬nite plan to meet in Troas after Titus delivered a message to the Corinthians. Like any of us, they probably had brief moments of thinking the worst. There was no news. Had they rejected Titus? Was he in trouble?
“We know it’s not the pastor’s church, but you hear that so much and for so long that you begin to think maybe it is. You’re the pastor, and you’ve got all these people out there, and they’re your responsibility. You’ve got to take care of them. And you have to make sure you have more people in attendance this Sunday than you had Sunday a year ago, or it won’t look good in the statistics. And we’re behind budget, the whole thing is mine. I’ve got to build it. I’ve got to take care of it.” – Ron Dunn
II. PERSPECTIVE CHANGES WHEN YOU GET GOD'S PERSPECTIVE
“The metaphor refers to the celebration after a major military victory in which the spoils of war, rolling stages presenting battle scenes, and pictures of the cities that were sacked were paraded on chariots through the city of Rome to the Capitoline hill and the Temple of Jupiter. Most relevant for Paul’s use of the image is the train of eminent captives who were marched in chains through the streets to their execution at the end of the route. Plutarch describes a triumphal procession devoted to Aemilius that lasted for three days. The people erected scaffolding around the city to witness the parade while clothed in white garments. Every temple was open and ï¬lled with garlands and incense, while numerous servitors and lictors restrained the thronging crowds and kept the streets open and clear.” – New American Commentary
III. POWER COMES WHEN THEY SEE JESUS IN US