God is Bigger Than Our Problems | Peter Paauwe

And I have the great privilege today of introducing a new friend to the refuge, a pastor, Peter Power, and his wife, Ilona, a pastor, the largest charismatic church in Holland. They started that church in 2005, one year after we started the refuge. And if you've ever been in Europe, if you've ever visited there or done any type of vacation or ministry there, you know, it's hard ground. That's a tough place to minister. But Doorbreakers Church is a multi-site church that's reaching thousands there in Holland. And doorbreakers in Dutch doesn't mean those who kick down doors. It means people of a breakthrough. And they're seeing incredible breakthrough there in Holland. I'm so thrilled this morning to have Pastor Peter with us in refuge. I need you to do me a big, big favor, a brand new friend and a brand new guest to the refuge. Would you welcome this morning, Pastor Peter Power, as he comes this morning? The King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, our Savior, our Deliverer, our Lord, our healing, and he's here in our midst. Let's honor him as a king. Let's swell your applause for the King of Kings. Be aware he's here in the house. Thank you, Lord. We praise you. You're in our midst. Amen. Have a seat, relax. Get used to my Dutch accent. So it's such an honor to be here. And the last few days, we have the honor to meet your pastors and talk about our life journeys.

And they are so comparable with our churches and what we are building together and the face of life that we are in. And the challenge we see is all like, ah, it's just we meet it right there. So that's great to be here and to be your guest today. I brought my beautiful wife with me, Ilona, and she's sitting over there. Maybe you can show yourself. She's a grandmum. We have four children, three grandchildren, and we know each other for more than 40 years. I know when you see her, you think, how did this guy end up with her? Let me explain. We are born in a small village in Holland, only 4,000 people. It's a hyper-Calvinistic Bible Belt village. Everybody goes to the same church. It's very, very legalistic. Nothing is happening in that village. Only once a year, it's like the MS a little bit, only once a year, there is a kind of summer market. It's small, but of course, all the youth is hanging out there. So did Ilona and so did I. She was at that time only 14. It's a bad dating story. It's not an example how to raise your kids. But anyway, that's what we did. So what I didn't know, you know, to break through, you need faith. So she had faith at 14 years old that I was going to be the husband of her life. I did not know that. But on the market, she was chasing me with her girlfriends, telling me loudly I was the target. So I tried to escape. And finally, I was hiding in the small booth of people that were evangelizing in those days with a flyer, there is hope.

So I hid behind the booth. They found me. So what I did, I grabbed the flyer with there is hope and gave it to her. Now the problem became bigger because she had already faith, but now she had expectation as well. So now she had two wings so she could take off. And she did, because, you know, if you want to break through, you need to have faith, you need to have expectation. The next thing you need is you need to act immediately. So that's what she did. Next day, she skipped school. Waited for me in an alley, knowing I was going to my work, but I could not escape. There she seduced me to kiss her. And when I did, she said, now we have a relationship. So now we know each other for 40 years, four children, three grandchildren. You know, and I want to honor the journey where this church is on. Your pastor has taken you in two years throughout the whole Bible, discussing all difficult passages. So if I'm right, this week you have been reading in the psalms from 68 to 71, actually showing David in battle, crying out to God, telling where he is at. But at the same time, you have been reading in the psalms from 68 to 71, the same time trusting God for a breakthrough and for delivery. And at the same time, you're reading in Leviticus where you see where God is establishing cleansing, atonement, a year of freedom, all in the structure of a covenant. So actually what we see on one side, we see battle with David, and on the other hand, we see covenant protection.

On one hand, we see storm and battle and emotions, and on the other hand, we see security in Christ. And that's actually a picture of our life. And in the middle of that tension of emotions and battle and storms and trusting in God, in the middle, the art is to find peace. And in the middle of every storm and in every battle, you can find peace that is above all understanding. And the secret today is learning how to find that peace. Because when we are at peace, God is mighty to deliver us and to protect us from problems. We many times think that when we follow the Lord, he will protect us from all problems. So that means protection means nothing will happen to me. But if you read in the Bible, he's not protecting you always from problems. Many times, he is helping you in the middle of the problems and helping you out of the problems. And that is breaking through. And that is not always easy. And we will see in this story that many times, we expect God to do something supernatural for us. But most of the times, he wants to set you free. He wants to give you the breakthrough by working in you and working through you and using you to solve the problem and to get the breakthrough. And I know many people think that pastors like us who lead churches and with growing

and they are those people, they don't have problems. And many times, you don't see on the surface that someone has a problem. If someone has a broken leg, you can see he has a problem. But many people are sitting here and they have big challenges financially, relationally, in health, in mind battles, many things that you don't see it. So I used to battle for the last seven years since 2018 with a very severe vertigo. And the vertigo would pop up any moment, any place. And vertigo for me means if you are like in the playground and you are on a wheel that goes around, you know it's nice for five minutes, but then you want to go off. And if the wheel goes fast, you cannot even stand, you have to sit down or to lay down. And if it goes on, you have to throw up and you can't do anything, you're like glued to the floor. That's what happened to me over the last five years. All in a sudden, I had it on the beach, I had it in the car, I had it on the airfield, I had it in a train, everywhere, anywhere. All in a sudden, I had the vertigo attack and it struck me down, sometimes for hours, sometimes even for days, I couldn't do anything, just throw up, eyes closed and waiting and praying till it is over. And despite that, in all those years and all those attacks, it has never stopped me of traveling around the world.

It has never stopped me of preaching and still declaring that God is good and faithful and helps you through the situation, but you need to trust him. You need to find peace in the situation and you need to know he is in you, is in your situation and with you and he will never leave and never forsake you. So I want to take you to my first point and I think you might read it as bad news, I read it as good news. We are born in problems to solve problems. Jesus is born in this world in problems to solve problems. So we follow him. So we are born in this world full of problems to solve problems. Zechariah 4, verse six to seven. This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel and I love this. Not by might, not by power, but by my spirit says the Lord of hosts, who are you, O great mountain? Who are you, O great sickness? Who are you, O great financial lack? Who are you, my problem? You will become, before Zerubbabel, you will become a plain. See, when I read Lord of hosts, I read Jesus Christ, hidden in the Old Testament. He is the leader of the heavenly armies

and he is before us and he is. on the inside of us. And at the same time, Siri bubble means born in problems. But we have problems because when we solve problems, mostly it's the next step up to a new opportunity. But don't be mistaken, the next step up and the new opportunity is mostly a new problem. So if you solve one problem, you get presented a next problem, and mostly the problem is bigger. And if you solve that problem, you get even a bigger problem to solve. That's how God works. He uses problems and challenges in life to form you and to format you. He's not presenting you the problems, they happen in your life, but he is with you with dealing with the problem and solving it. And we need to know that Christ is within us. For me, one of the most important verses in the Bible is not I live, but it is Christ that lives in me. So the most high lives in you, is united with you. That means wherever you go, he is with you, he is in you. He's never leaving you, he's never forsaking you. You can forget about him, but he's not forgetting about you because he stays in you. And that means if all power and all authority and all holiness and all righteousness of the heavens is living in you, he wants to solve the problems in your life,

not on the supernatural way outside you, but in you and then through you, and you can handle the problem. One of my favorite stories that we are going to that is the story of David. And we know David solved the problem. He defeated Goliath, and the next problem he has is he's persecuted by King Saul for 14 years in the desert. So that's a nice solution when you solve a problem. But what happens when he's in the desert, and again you see here, David as a type of Christ. Everybody that's rejected in society, everybody that has problems, everybody that's broken, people that are in debt, that are not accepted anymore by society, they are coming to David in the desert. And the Bible says, David embraces them. In other words, he believes in them. He accepts them where they are at. And then he is investing in them and changing them to leaders, to heroes, and to giant slayers. And that's the way how it works for us. When we come with our brokenness to Christ, he's accepting us, he's making us whole, he's bringing us back on our feet, he makes us spiritual warriors, and he's using us for his cause. And that's amazing. And that happens to David.

Anyway, in those 14 years, all those heroes, they start to live outside the gates of Ziklag. It's like the same living outside the gates of Hamas or Hezbollah. You could ask, is that smart? Anyway, they did. And it was not only David doing that, all the leaders around him more or less agreed with that because they lived there as well. They were part of the potential problem that was going to arise. And the problem came because the Philistines decided to go to war against the Israelites. Now, David has a problem because you know, David has a high level of integrity. He loves his people. He would never go to war against his people, but here he has no choice. So he's traveling with the Philistines in the direction of a war with his brothers. I'm sure he has been praying, Lord, how are we going to solve this? Because we cannot do this. And just before the war starts, the leaders of the Philistines say, you never know with this guy. It might just be that in the heat of the fight, he's turning around, choosing for his brothers and fighting against this. So let's send them home.

And then the Bible describes that David and his army they are walking three days home. If you read three days in your Bible, you need to think about Christ. And when David arrives after three days home, he finds everything burned down. Everything he has and the soldiers have is taken. So it's not only that BMWs and the Mercedes and the trucks that are gone, it's their wives, it's their children. And at that time, you don't know what that means, but mostly that is very bad news. So here you see David traveling three days. If you travel three days in your car, Or by playing, it's still quite comfortable. But if you travel three days, you're three days daydreaming about coming home, seeing your loved ones, playing with your children, hanging on your couch, taking a Coke from the fridge, having a good time, and then you come home, and everything that you don't expect has happened. Imagine you come home today, everything you have is burned. Your loved ones are taken, and you don't know where they are. That's what those people are in. And the Bible describes that the heroes of David, they fall on the ground after three days of travel. They were already tired, but now they cry till there is no strength left in them. And if you allow to be led by your trauma, and by your emotions, and by your circumstances, then you make your problem only bigger.

That's my second point. If you focus on your emotion and your circumstances, problems get only bigger. And what David's heroes do, the guy who embraced them, the guy who raised them up, the guy who led him, they need a scapegoat. They need somebody to blame. And that's what many times happens. When we are in difficult situations, we look for someone to blame. And even many Christians do that to God. They come to Christ, they are set free, they are delivered, they become righteous, they become holy, they get set free, they are healed, they are blessed. And then a disaster is hitting you, and then you start to complain to God. Say, God, where are you? The same what those heroes do. They blame David. It's what humanity did with Christ. He came to save them, and they put them on the cross. Anyway, they want to stone David. And now we have David. He lost his wife too. He lost everything he had. He lost his children. And now the man he loved, the man he gave his life for, the man he invested in, the man he made heroes, they want to stone him to death. So you can imagine that David was under extreme pressure,

emotionally, and at the same time, that his thoughts were spinning around. And sometimes we find ourselves in those type of situations, sometimes all in a sudden. And we know when we are clouded with emotions and our thoughts are running around, we don't make good decisions. It's hard to make decisions with God. It's hard to make decisions that show your values. So David is in that situation, and the Bible says this, David, however, strengthened himself in the Lord, his God. And what I see here is this. David strengthened himself. Many times when we have challenges, we pray to God, Lord, do you know what happened? You need to intervene. You need to do this. You need to do that. Lord, and we expect him to do things for us. But here, David is strengthening himself. He is not begging. He is not begging God to change the situation. He's not changing God with his prayer. He is changing himself. He is entertaining and spending time with God. And the one who's changed in this process is David. So many times we think we need to tell the Lord all our problems. Well, the only thing we need is to go and sit in his presence and just see who he is. Because if we focus on our circumstances, if we focus on our problems, our circumstances and our problems will only become bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger,

and we don't know what to do. But if we shift our focus from the circumstances, from measuring the storm, and we start to measure our God, then our God will always be bigger than the challenge where we are in. And that means even if he doesn't solve the problem, but just sitting in his presence, we will get peace. So how has David strengthened himself in the Lord? I think you can read the Psalms you read the last few days, but I would say he might have said, Lord, you know everything. It's hidden before you because you know everything, but you are the most high. And Lord, you are right here. You are my shepherd. I lack nothing. So you lack everything, but faith says, Lord, you are my shepherd, and if I have my shepherd, I have everything. Lord, you are my provider. I have lack, but I have everything because you have everything. Lord, you are my healer. I'm sick, but you are my healer, so I have my health. Lord, you are my righteousness. I feel shame and condemnation for what I did, but I have you, and you are my righteousness. And Lord, you are not far away in heaven. Your name is, I'm here. I'm present.

I know you are here, and for us as New Testament believers, I know, Lord, it's not I that live. It's you that's living in me, and I know that the Bible says in him we live, and in him we move. Yes, you are in us, and you are never far away. You are with me in this situation. So what I think what happened when David was strengthening himself in the Lord, his emotions were calming down. His thinking came to rest, and that is the moment you can make decisions again. So we need to present our decisions to God and not our problems. That is, I think in the meantime, that is my, I don't know, it's still point two, God is bigger than my problem. So we need to present our decisions to God. But what many times happen, we bring our problems to God. But you know you've got arms and legs and feet? Why? You use them. So God has given you brains to use them. And that's many times what we forget. We get all, like, oh, the Holy Spirit will solve it, but God has given you brains. And is it not like this, that many times when we have big challenges, God is silent. And then you need the words from God. But why is he silent? He wants you to use your brains. And when you use your brains, you can present decisions

to God, and he can confirm it. That's the way how he works. He wants to work through you, instead of working for you. And by being in his presence, we calm down our mind, and we are able to make decisions. So what David does, at the moment he has done that, he calls for, in 1 Samuel 30, verse seven to eight, he calls for the priest. Abimelech's son, please bring me the ephod here to me. And Abjadar brought the ephod to David. That's how they made decisions in that time with God. So David inquired of the Lord, saying, shall I perse the troop, this troop? Shall I overtake them? And he answered him, pursue, for you shall surely overtake him, and without fail recover all. And God confirms David without giving him any instructions or details. God's just confirming the what, and not the how. We know the what. All promises are yes and amen in Christ. He doesn't always tell us how the promises are going to be fulfilled. So to find that key, it's important that we're able to be still, and know that he is God. Being still doesn't mean doing nothing. Being still means get your emotions down, get your ability to make decisions back, so that you're able to present your decisions to God. Like Moses is for the Red Sea with the nation,

and the Egyptians are on the back, and they are crying out to God. And God says, hey, shut up, be still. Down your emotions. Moses, you have a staff, a rod, you know? That's your authority. So give the authority I have given you, stretch it out, and the sea is opening. So what I like, the Bible verse is 2 Chronicles 16 verse 9, is this, for the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. So, this morning we can say, the eyes of the Lord are going through this auditorium, checking one by one. Is He strengthening everybody? He wants to, but He can't. He is strengthening those, says the word, who are fully committed to Him. Actually it says, who are fully at peace with Him. So, He's going to help those with severe, big problems, whatever it is, but still have peace in the middle of the storm, in the middle of the battle, because they know who He is. Then He promises, He's strengthening you and giving you power to solve the problem. He's not solving the problem for you, He's strengthening you, so you can deal with the situation and you can work towards how you solve the problem. There was a time I was just saved, actually, and I was still very immature. And we come from a very hyper-Calvinistic background. And so we got saved out of that Calvinistic background, we came in a church like this, and we were very happy, we got baptized immediately, and we did everything they said, because those people were so happy and we wanted to have the life that they had. So one of the things they told us, we do tithing. What is that? Giving 10% of your income. I thought, that's crazy. But they did. So we said, just saved. Okay, if that's how it works, we just do it. So I got the result within four weeks, I got fired. See, he gives the point, are you doing it from faith, or are you doing it from fear? So I got fired, so I came home and I ran to my bedroom, and I did what you shouldn't do. I cried out to God, Lord, how can this happen? I'm tithing now, I'm saved,

and now I lose my career. And then I did what you should not do, I opened my Bible, randomly. You know, that's dangerous. Only immature believers do that. You know what I read? Why are you crying like a woman in labor? And I said, I'm not crying, I'm crying because I'm a man. And then the next sentence says this, is there no king in the land? Is your counselor gone? Is anything changed? Am I changed? Now you have a challenge. And the next line behind that, you, for a while, you will be outside this city, but then I will bring you back. I was fired. Six months later, I sold the company I was going to work for after them, back to the company that fired me, and the guy that fired me, I sat right behind him and reported to the same boss and God restored me. So God knows how to do. But first, I had to realize that whatever happens, He's my king, and He's my counselor. See, and at that moment, my peace came back. And if you have your peace back, you can make decisions. And your decisions, you can bring to God. Let's read in Job 22 verse 28. If you decide on a matter, it will be established for you, and your light will shine on your ways. Here's the importance of you making decisions. Proverbs 16 verse 3. Commit your works, your plans, how you're going to do things to the Lord, and your plans will be established. Psalm 37 verse 5 to 6. Commit your way to the Lord. Trust in Him, and He will act, and He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, and your justice like the noonday sun. And otherwise, if we present our decisions to Him, and we trust in Him, the darkness and the clouds that are over you, of the circumstance and the situation where you're in, they will break, and the light will break through, and it will be like the day. What we need to notice is that... When David came to the priest, David said, should I shave them down? And the Lord said, and overtake them. He said, yes, go and overtake them. He didn't give any direction. He didn't give details. He didn't say, go north, go south, go west, go east. He didn't say, if you go, there is a key, you will find the guy down the road. You need to stop and you need to ask him because he has the secret and then you will find your people back.

The Lord said nothing. He said only yes on the what, yes on the promise, not on the how. The how is our role. That's what our brains kick in. We can make decisions what to do. And that is what David did. David heard it, made a decision, and that's my point five, he acted immediately. Many people wait for a better time. But faith is always moving forward because if you make a decision to go and you don't do it, you start to doubt again. How many people decide to baptize and then they don't do it? That's why we baptize every Sunday in our church because you have decided but then people think all kinds of things about it and you start to doubt again. You decided to tie it, but then you have a bad memory, no, no, no, let's delay it. It will become a better time. There is never a better time. This is the day to act and that's what you see with David. He starts to move directly because God's doors are many times just open for a season and a short moment. Look to Israel at the border of the promised land. People say, you go in, and they said, have you seen the giants? Have you seen the fortified cities? Have you seen how powerful the kings are? We are just grasshoppers in their eyes. They had an identity problem. They didn't know who they were and that's what they made the decision on. So the next day they felt better and said, oh, we feel better, we think we can do this. They said, Lord, we are going to move. He said, no, doors are closed, 40 years in circles. So we need to seize the opportunity at the moment he is there.

So David is running to find his wives, the children, and everything they lost. And as he's running, there's a guy sitting beside of the road, an Egyptian, and the Bible says he's sitting there for three days. So before David knew he had the problem, before he prayed, before he decided, before he acted, the provision was already sitting there. The problem with this guy is that his boss left him three days ago sick behind, without food and without water, and otherwise he was nearly dead. So if David would not have acted immediately and had said, okay, I have a problem, I strengthen myself in the Lord, I calm down, I make a decision, present it to the Lord, and I act on it immediately, this guy would have been dead. And this guy has the secret to find his wife and children and everything they lost back. So David is running, and he could have said, of course, hey, sorry, I see you have a problem, but you know, I come back, I will surely help you, but first my kids and my wife and my car and everything I need, I solve my problems, and if my problem was solved, I come back and I will help you. And that's how many people live. They have problems, and at the moment they have problems, they don't have time for anybody else that has problems, they have problems, they have no time to come to church, they have problems, they have no time to volunteer in the church, because I have a problem, and I'm focused on my problem. But if we prioritize people above our problems, then many times we will find our solutions. And that's what happens to David. He needs first to feed the guy, because he's nearly dead, so he has to wait, so he's feeding the guy, compassion, and then he can finally speak, and David said, who are you? And he said, I was part of an army, and we robbed some cities around here. And David said, oh, okay, we will help you, but can you help us? Do you know where the army is? And he said, yes, I know where they are. And he said, if you go over there, you will find them. And the thing is this, when David found the army that robbed his city and his camp, those

guys had not only robbed David's city and David's camp, they robbed many, many cities. But David had to spoil, there was so much more than that they lost. He had so much that he could share it among everybody from his own army, even the guys that didn't go to war because they were too tired, they got their share. And then there was still left, so he had to call some of the tribes of Israel and say, hey guys, we have some BMWs and Mercedeses left. If you want a few, come over and get one. He was again, he was generous to the people that outcasted him. That's the heart. And for us, here you have the picture of Christ going down, three days, down into hell. But when we are on the bottom, he's turning everything around. And the future he has for us when he comes back is amazing. It will be so much better and so much more than we have today. We will be blessed into all eternity because that is our Christ.