Listen to Rick Beaudry, Pastor of Calvary Chapel Bremerton, teach the Word of God cover to cover, chapter by chapter, and verse by verse. Be edified and built up in your faith with solid Bible teaching. New episodes on Mondays in the Pacific Standard Timezone.
Would you open your bibles to 2nd Corinthians chapter 1. 2nd Corinthians chapter 1 verses 1 through 11. And second Corinthians chapter 1 for 11. Would you please stand with me as we read God's holy word together?
Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, and Timothy, our brother, under the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints which are, in all Achaia.
Grace to you and peace from God our father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Blessed be God, even the father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of mercies and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.
For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds by Christ.
And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer.
Or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. And our hope of you is steadfast, knowing that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation.
For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our troubles which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure and above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life.
But we have the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raises the dead, who delivered us from so great a death and does deliver, in whom we trust, he will yet deliver us.
Ye also helping together by prayer for us, that for the gifts bestowed upon us by the means of many persons, thanks may be given by many on our behalf.
So, father, we thank you for your holy word. Lord, we wanna be disciples. As you said, go and make disciples. We wanna be students.
We wanna be learners. And, Lord, we don't want to remain in an arrested state of development as a babe in Christ for 40 years. We don't want to know what the consensus is or the talking points or what the world has to say.
Lord, we wanna know what you have to say. And Lord, we pray that as Jesus, as you said, he that has an ear, let him hear what the spirit is saying to the churches.
Lord, we pray you give us ears to hear. You give us hearts to apply these truths, that we not be foolish building our homes on sand, Lord. Building our lives upon sand, but upon the rock, being doers of your word, not hearers only.
So God, strengthen us this morning. Speak to us. Speak deep within the recesses of our heart, and help us evermore to relinquish control of our lives, Lord. To set our lives into your hands, the lives that you've given us, Lord.
No matter what the circumstance, no matter what suffering we may face, no matter what difficulties, Lord. That, Lord, we're controlled by you. That we're being transformed, being changed from glory to glory in the image of Jesus Christ.
Lord, help us, we pray, to discover that inner man, that life of the spirit, Christ in us, the hope of glory. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Would you please be seated?
This letter was written by the apostle Paul in around 56, some say 60 AD. And, Paul wrote 2nd Corinthians from Philippi, the area of Macedonia, and he wrote his first letter to the church of Corinth while he was in, Ephesus.
The occasion of this is Acts chapter 1920 in that in that area. And then he proceeds, after he'd written 1st Corinthians, he then proceeds to Troas, with Timothy, waiting for a word from Titus concerning the response to 1st Corinthians.
It seems the Corinthians corrected some of the things that were wrong. And by way of remembrance, they were into idolatry. They had fornication in chapter 5. They were suing each other in chapter 6, the, the idolatry of chapter 7 there.
And, and so they're taking each other to court and all. They, were following after different, philosophers and stuff, professing themselves to be wise, you know, becoming fools and all.
They were abusing the gifts. They were abusing the Lord's table. Paul gave a whole teaching on the gifts of the spirit in chapter, you know, 12, 13, and 14. Chapter 13, love the proper way, to use these gifts.
And so Paul heard of trouble there in the church. He spent 18 months establishing this church. The Lord appeared to him, while he was in the area and told him, Paul, I have much people in this city.
And, Paul had just been beaten before that, you know, in the area of Lystra and Derbe and mistreated and all. And even in Ephesus, he's being mistreated.
He said he fought with beasts in Ephesus. And, and so it's been it's been a tough tough time for him. And so now, they corrected a few things, but Paul, is now being attacked in his apostleship.
He's being attacked by false prophets that are coming there with him not there. They're coming through, these YouTube prophets, and they're saying, you know, he's really not a pastor.
He's really not qualified to be a pastor. He's a raging lunatic. You know, he's ranting like Alex Jones and all that all the time. You know? And, they're trying to attack Paul on the validity of his apostleship.
Now, you can look in some places, and you can see where the apostle Paul described himself as a Pharisee of Pharisees. He described himself as, concerning the law, blameless.
Raised at the feet of Gamaliel, one of the greatest teachers of his time. So this man is a very brilliant man from the city of Troas. He's got Greeks, excuse me, able to speak Greek and, Hebrew and and, Arabic and all, multilingual.
And, he's got an understanding of Greek culture, Roman culture, of Hebrew culture, possibly gonna be one of the members of the Sanhedrin, or already was, and being groomed, by the Jews in that way.
And yet, he said he call called it all as dung, as refuse for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ. He wasn't a believer in Jesus Christ. He was a persecutor of the church, wasting the church, the chiefest of sinners and all.
And, and so, rather than citing his awards and citing who he was beforehand, and trying to show the Corinthians and the false prophets all the different, things that would establish him, because they come in with papers.
They come in with, hey, look at this. I'm doctor Rick Beaudry now. I went online and I got a doctorate.
And so, you know, look at this. Look look It says doctor Rick Beaudry here, you know? And, that's what people do. They try to, they try to bring forth credentials, unearned credentials in many cases, to try and lift them above others.
Presently, we're watching the church of Bethel, try to use apostles and prophets as greater authority than that of pastor teachers.
And so they're, you know, bringing forth present day apostles and prophets, and they're able to have no accountability from the word of God. And they can say or do anything they want as apostles and prophets.
And as I said earlier, they have a pixie dust coming out of the sky, you know, gold, stuff, and angel feathers, and tanks, and tunnels, and all sorts of demonic, ungodly things that people are lured to, and no standing upon the word of God.
And if anybody tries to hold them accountable, they try to take them down. So Paul's defense in this description, or or this lack of respect, if you will, is he goes into his suffering.
He shows his calling and sincerity by what he suffered. So he's gonna have a list of suffering here. He's gonna show you here how he despaired even of life. He's gonna show in chapter 4 a list of things he went through.
In chapter 11, he's gonna show you a list of things he went through. Turn to chapter 4, I'll give you an idea. So he's he's he's saying here in chapter 4, he says, we are troubled on every side, verse 8, yet not distressed.
We are perplexed, but not in despair. Persecuted, but not forsaken. Cast down, but not destroyed. Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also Jesus might be made manifest in our body.
For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.
So then death works in us, but life in you. So he said, I'm going through all this for you. I'm going through this death and this treatment so that you can be ministered unto.
We have the same spirit of faith according as is written, I believe and therefore have I spoken, we also believe and therefore speak, knowing that which raised up the lord Jesus shall raise us up also by Jesus and shall present us with you.
For all things are for your sakes. We're going through all this for you guys, church of Corinth. That the abundant grace might, through the thanksgiving of many, redound to the glory of god.
So if I can get you guys to quit whining and complaining and fighting against me, if I can actually get you to start praising god, then the glory reaches his throne.
That thanksgiving of many may redound to the glory of God. For which cause we faint not, but though our outward man is perishing, yet our inward man is renewed day by day. So that's biographical.
That's what's taking place within him. For our light affliction, and we're gonna look at what he describes as light affliction, which is, but for a moment works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.
While we look not at the things which are seen, but things which are not seen. For things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
Now turn to chapter 11. Another list. He says verse 16, I say again, let no man think me a fool. If otherwise, yet as a fool receive me, that I may boast myself a little. So how's he gonna boast? Watch how he's gonna boast.
That which I speak, I speak it not after the Lord, but as it were foolishly in the confidence of boasting. Seeing that many glory after the flesh These guys are glorying in the flesh. Look how big my church is.
Look how big my following is. Look at my hair. It's growing back. My teeth are getting whiter. For ye suffer fools gladly, seeing yourselves are wise. For ye suffer if a man bring you into bondage, if a man devour you.
Isn't it amazing, these false churches, how much they beg for money? How much bondage they bring people into? If a man take of you, if a man exalt himself, if a man smite you on the face, The insulting of them.
I speak as concerning reproach as though he had been weak. How be it, wherein so ever any is bold, I speak foolishly, I am bold also. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I.
Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I. So the Judaizers were coming through and they're wanting the people to hold to the law. And Paul was trying to keep them from going back into the law, that they were free to walk walk by faith.
Are they ministers of Christ? I speak as a fool. I am more in labors, more abundant in stripes, more above measure in prisons, more frequent in deaths often. Of the Jews, 5 times I received 40 stripes, save 1.
Let me tell you how the church of China considers a man, and I say a man, a pastor. You're not considered a pastor till you spent time in jail. Until you've been gone through suffering. They don't even consider you a pastor.
And we have the complete opposite view of what a pastor is in our culture. He's a very prosperous guy with a jet, multiple houses and monies, never satisfied, always begging for more, does very little to edify and build the sheep up.
He's a he's a con man. And the people love it so. Places are filled. I watched some big pastors over the last 40 some years that I've been a Christian talk a big talk, Even guys I know, guys I respected.
And the first time they got sick, like many of you have gotten sick, they wimped out. They just couldn't handle being sick.
They began to doubt God publicly. I watched I watched a guy get a back injury that I got when I was 34, and he wanted to quit. Big guy. God, if you don't take away this pain, you know, take me home. Man, I deal with that every day.
You deal with more than that every day. Why are they so pampered? Pampered chefs, you know? What what is it? I watched the guy worth 20,000,000 lose it all. And he was suicidal. He was a big guy. Everybody respected him.
Going to him, asking him how to make money. And he lost it all. He got deceived. And going forward, we're gonna find out what we're made of. We're gonna find out. He says of the Jews, 5 times I received stripes, save 1.
We quit when somebody just mocks us. You Christian weirdos. And we quit. None of us have been hit with with a with a stick 5 times. Of the Jews, 5 times, I received 40 stripes saved 1.
So with the Jews, you could only receive 39 stripes. Jesus is hit with a cat of 9 tail stripes, but it's not the Jews bringing that punishment, that torture. It's the Romans. So they could've gone well beyond 35, you know, 39.
Beaten him, as Revelation 5 says, beaten beyond the recognition of a man. Thrice, I was beaten with rods. Once, I was stoned at Lystra. Three times, I suffered shipwreck. A night and a day, I have been in the deep.
In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren.
In weariness, and painfulness, and watchings often, in hunger, and thirst, and fastings often, and cold, and nakedness. Besides those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.
The pressure of the churches, all the fighting and all the weirdness that comes into the church. He has a responsibility as a pastor, as an elder to try and, you know, deal with the wolves and deal with false doctrine.
Who is weak? Am I not weak? Who is offended? And I burn not. If I mustn't his glory, I will glory of the things which concern my infirmities.
The god and father of our lord Jesus Christ, which is blessed forever, more knoweth that I lie not. In Damascus, the governor of Aretas, the king, kept the city of the the the the damaskenes with a garrison desiring to apprehend me.
And through a window and a basket, I was let down by the wall and escaped his hands. This is historical. This is Paul's story.
And now he talks about, in chapter 12, being sick. Unless and he and he and he talks first of all, he says, I knew a man in Christ above 14 years ago, whether in the body, I cannot tell, or whether out of the body, I cannot tell.
God knows such a one caught up to notice the third heaven. Firmament. How many firmaments do the Flat Earthers have? One. Just a globe. When I give them this passage, they're like, what are you talking about?
Well, the first firmament's where the birds fly. The second firmament is space, where the stars and the moon and the sun and all that are. The 3rd firmament, this guy's caught up to heaven.
Do you get it? Pretty simple. And I knew such a one, whether in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell. God knows. He was caught up into paradise and heard unspeakable words which are not lawful for man to utter.
Of such a one will I glory, yet myself will I not glory, but in my infirmities. So Paul could've said, I could've written books about how I was caught up to the 3rd heaven.
I could have got everybody to listen to, I saw the angel feathers. I saw the gold streets. I saw it, man. He could have really tried and promoted himself with what he saw.
And he doesn't even use his own name here. He's speaking to the 3rd person. Yet myself, I not glory in my infirmities. For though I would desire to glory, I shall not be a fool, for I will say the truth.
But now I forbear, lest any man should think me above that which he seeth me to be other that he hears of me, unless I should be exalted above measure. So you have this radical experience with god.
And in order to keep you usable, to keep your feet on the ground, because you've soared where none of those false prophets have ever flown in the heavenlies. God's gotta put a weight on that kite.
He's gotta weight it down, lest we be exalted above measure, filled with pride like Lucifer. And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations which were given to me.
So god's revealing things to Paul, not those false prophets. A thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.
So god gave the apostle Paul a sickness, a messenger of Satan that was buffeting him, beating on him. And many commentators feel that he got in and off the malia.
His eyes were oozing. He couldn't see. It was impaired vision. And through malaria, possibly. Malaria causes these type of symptoms. Huge migraine headaches. How many of you get migraine headaches?
A messenger of Satan, a tent stake in the Greek, jamming into his temples, is what the description is. Now the naman claim it, the blab it and grab it, the faith guys, they they would say, Paul, just pray. You prayed for other people.
You raised other people from the dead, even. You know, Eutychus fell from the rafter when you're preaching along, like we're gonna do today. And he fell from the top, came to the bottom, and Paul raised him from the dead.
Right? Peter raised Dorcas, you know, from the dead. And, this this guy has he has the goods. And healing, gift of healing isn't, you know, carte blanche. You heal everybody all the time.
You don't know when God's gonna heal somebody, so you pray by faith that God would heal. And he's praying for himself. For these things I besought the lord 3 times, that it might depart from me. So he's a praying man.
He's asking, he's seeking, he's knocking. He's asking, he's seeking, he's knocking. And Satan keeps knocking on his noggin. And he said unto me, my grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is perfected in weakness.
Paul says, you're Jesus says, you're gonna have to rely on me, Paul. You're a very strong guy. But I'm gonna bring you to the end of yourself.
And the only way you're moving forward is as you relinquish control of your life more and more, greater and greater dependency upon me, and my grace, my merited favor will be bestowed upon you.
Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in the infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Now this guy's a masochist. Watch this. Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities. Really? Here, beat on me a little. In reproaches and necessities and persecutions and distresses for Christ's sake.
For when I am weak, then I am strong. I become a fool in glory and you have compelled me. You've compelled me. For I ought not to have been commended of you, for nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles, though I be nothing.
So he's disgusted with them following the false prophets who can't deliver, who don't have the juice. They don't have the power, they've never planted a church. And yet they're constantly trying to undermine the word.
And so what's he do? He says, hey, I've got the scars to prove it. Did you go to battle? Did you go fight for your country? Oh, yeah. Right. That was you guys were just swimming. You guys were just at the pools.
And you say, what? Do you know how many of my buddies I lost? Do you know what it was like? And you don't even wanna talk to ignorant people like that. And and if they ever got you to, you'd say, look, I lost my leg from the knee down.
I've got I've got the stigmata of Jesus. I got his scars all over my body from the beatings. What more could there be to prove the sincerity of my calling?
Who would go through with this if they weren't called? The false prophets are hirelings. They leave at the first sight of difficulty. They wanna renew their contract all the time and get more and more money, more and more stuff.
So Paul, he says, but we had, verse 9, the sense of death in ourselves that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead. Paul despaired of life.
Have you ever despaired of life? Have you ever been in so much pain and anguish and heartache that you thought the easiest way out of this is to die? Just take me to heaven, lord. Take me now. Who is this god we are to trust in?
You can't trust in a god you don't know. Let's get to know him a little bit. Who is this god we are to trust in? Number 1, he's a god in control. You wouldn't want a god that doesn't that isn't in control.
Every circumstances, everything you face goes through a providential filter where god's in control and he allows it in your life. You're not an accident. Those aren't an accident, those circumstances.
All these things that happened to Paul, it was not an accident. I tend to think, you know, lord, when the enemy comes in like a flood, the spirit of the lord will raise up a standard against him.
Lord, where were you? Where were you when? You were supposed to help me. You say in Romans 831, since God's for us, who can be against us?
Where were you? Where were you when? And that's an illustration of me being in control. Me believing the lie that I have some control. Who am I to question God and the things he allows in my life?
What's God want of me? Trust him. Well, Lord, it's incomprehensible what you've allowed. It's illogical. It's irrational. That's why I tell you to walk by faith, not by sight.
You don't have all the information. Well, Lord, what about Peter? He's got a house and a wife, and they live on the Sea of Galilee on the water. If it's so good for me, why don't we inject this fury, this pain into everybody?
It's so good for my inner man. Let's work on their inner man. Why do some just get by with nothing happening to them? Why me? And then you get into your pity party. You don't see any of that here.
There's no pity party with Paul. It's all a privilege. It's the privilege of suffering. The privilege of filling up the sufferings of Christ. The privilege of being accounted worthy to suffer for his name's sake.
And a practical outworking, a spiritual practical outworking is, as you learn to suffer with him, and you receive comfort and consolation from him, now you were able to comfort others also.
But if you don't go through suffering, if you don't go through those difficulties of being a widow, of losing your money, or losing a child.
If you don't go through those things that happened to people all over the world, you're not it's not an isolated instance.
Now, that comfort that He provides, that only He can as a believer, you're believing and trusting in Him. Now, you, when you spot that woman across the room who's just lost a child, she reads your eyes.
She knows that you know. You don't even need to say anything, because God's given you the comfort. You then are able to comfort others also. So Paul, a god in control, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God.
Whose will? The will of God. An apostle is one sent, a messenger, an ambassador. So Paul was sent by Jesus Christ by the will of God. He apprehended Paul, Saul of Tarsus, on the road to Damascus.
He's heading to Damascus to destroy Christians' lives. He has papers from the Jews in Jerusalem. And on the road, there's a bright light, the Shekinah glory of God shining brighter than the the midday desert sun.
And he hears a voice, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And Paul was tormented by the vision of Stephen in Acts chapter 7 being stoned to death.
And he's looking up to heaven, and his face is shining bright like that of an angel. And all the persecutors laid their coats at the feet of 1 called Saul.
And Stephen's saying, father, lay not this sin to their charge. It's tormenting Saul. He's kicking against the goats. He's fighting against God's love. He's fighting against God's appointment of him, calling of him.
And finally, Saul says, Who art thou, Lord? Look at the posture. He's on his knees. He's blinded by the light, and he's calling Jesus, Lord. He doesn't even know who he is, but he knows he's God.
I'm Jesus whom you're persecuting. Can you continue to kick against the goats? And then he's taken to a house and he's blind, and the Lord says, Ananias, the prophet. And Ananias, the prophet's there to describe to Paul his calling.
I'm gonna make you one of the pampered chefs, Paul. I'm gonna set you in Damascus and give you a mega church, and you're gonna have the coolest chariots. You have the coolest house and everything.
You're gonna be known all over the world, gonna write books, be famous. You'll make me famous. No. It's a complete opposite. There are no megachurches in the early church. They were all persecuted. They met in homes.
They hid later in dens and in caves. The megachurch is the prophecy of the prosperity of the times in which we're living. The celebrities who've never taken a lick. Never. And when they do, they faint. They've been so pampered.
And so Ananias told him, Saul, Jesus instruct me to tell you, show him what things he must suffer for my name's sake. So when you suffer, it's for the Lord's sake. It's for his glory. You're willing to suffer for his glory.
He's glorified as you take the hit, as you take the suffering. Not whining and complaining, but you go away from there rejoicing that you were counted worthy in acts 4 to suffer for his name's sake. Singing and rejoicing.
Hey, we got beat on. We got thrown into prison. Really? Yeah. Rejoicing. In Galatians 1 15, Paul looking back on his life, he realized that he was actually separated from his mother's womb. That there's no accident.
God intended this all along. God's in control. This is no accident that I'm an apostle, an apostle born out of due time. When Peter, in Acts 1, was trying to figure out who was gonna be the 12th apostle, they threw dice.
They threw lots, and it came upon Matthias. You know? In Acts chapter 2, when the Holy Spirit was poured out, they never threw dice again.
They could hear the Holy Spirit. They could hear the Holy Spirit say in Acts 13, separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work where I've called them to. The 1st missionary journey, as they were fasting and praying.
And so Paul was this apostle born out of due time, at a later point in time where the Lord personally revealed himself to him, selected him, and grounded him in the faith, as Paul spent close to 3 years in the deserts of Arabia, after Damascus.
So he sat at the feet of Gamaliel. He's raised in the best colleges and schools that that could ever provide, but ultimately, he's in the school of the desert, just as Moses spent, and John the Baptist, and others, many others.
So why is it so important that we know God is in control because we're gonna go through suffering?
And if you don't know God, you can't go through suffering. You won't you won't last. You won't make it. It'll make you bitter. It'll make you quit.
It'll make you run. The suffering that comes, the false gospel that's promoted today is a Jesus that doesn't want you to ever suffer. It's a Jesus that wants you to be skinny, and pretty, and wealthy, never die, never sick.
It's a false gospel. A prosperity gospel. In 2nd Timothy 312, Paul says, All. All means all. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. We're all sinners.
All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. If you're not suffering persecution, it's because you're not living godly. You're not a threat to the kingdom of darkness. Devil neutralized you a long time ago.
You're no threat to his kingdom. You're impotent. You have no power. Doesn't matter how many times you try to refute the pre trib rapture, you've never written a book or done a sermon on the mid or post trib rapture.
You have no proof. All you have is a debate over and over and over and over again, trying to refute the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great god and savior.
You've never taught a bible study. You've never taught Sunday school. You've never planted a church. But you're a YouTube authority, a commentator at the bottom of a message that you think, you think, you think.
How's that working in your marriage? Show me your marriage. Show me your home life. And I'll be able to determine if you're a spirit filled man or not.
We must, through much tribulation, enter into the kingdom of God. Next 14. Now, that's so crazy for him to say that because just before that, he got stoned at Lystra. And he's left for dead, and they're circled around him.
And he doesn't want them to have the improper view of what it means to be a Christian. He's not trying to get the numbers up, the nickels and noses up, and only show them the blessings, your best life now.
He's stoned to death. He's caught up to the third heaven. He sees things that can't even describe. He comes back down into his body, and he pops back up. And he didn't cry for his mommy. He didn't say, God, why did you do that?
He didn't whine and complain. He said, I'm out of here. I didn't sign up for this. He went right back into the city. Right back into Lyster, right back into Derby, right back into Antioch and Iconium.
And he preached the gospel. Probably, he was all bloodied. Kinda like the the shock of Jonah coming out of the whale, you know. Woah. And he didn't give him a false hope. He he made him count the cost.
And he said that, we through much tribulation, enter into the kingdom of God. Not the tribulation, much pressure, much tribulation. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers them out of them all.
And that's the view. That's the perfect view. Are you counting the cost? Are you gonna sign up? Are you willing to die? Are you dead already? Are you prostituting Jesus? Are you wanting to rub Jesus a certain way and get your way?
Are you demanding of Jesus? Those are all false erroneous doctrines. He's savior and lord. We must, Nicodemus, you must be born again. We must. No debate. Through much tribulation, enter into the kingdom of God.
Jesus said in Matthew 1022, you shall be hated of all men for my name's sake. That's why I always say, get in line. People act like, you know, Rick, they're Did you hear that they're calling so and so?
They're calling her and she's she's saying, these people in your church are angry at you and they're calling and, you know, they're really emptying out. You think I care?
It's been 30 years of dealing with this mentality. I'm here to minister to those that are here this morning, not those that are not here. You hate me? Get in line. Many of these people got baptized here, saved here, grew here.
And then all of a sudden, what? I wasn't facing Mecca when I raised my hands? I mean, the most lame things cause people to leave churches. There's no membership here. That door goes both ways. You're free to come.
You're free to go. And you don't need to explain it to me. I know the majority of people are gonna hate me when this is over. They hated Jesus. All the disciples died violent deaths of martyrdom all except for John the beloved.
Paul's gonna die at Nero's hand of cutting his head off. Do you think he's afraid to die? He said it was more beneficial that he stay with these guys because they needed him. You can't find remnant churches anymore that teach the bible.
He shall be hated of all men for my name's sake, for Jesus' name's sake, but he that endures at the end shall be saved. Saved out of what? Saved out of the persecution. He'll rescue you.
Paul Paul needed the lord to appear to him in Acts 18 just to calm him down because he was so afraid after having been stoned. And the lord Jesus appeared to him and said, Paul, nobody's gonna set on thee to touch thee.
I have much people in this city. It's a really ungodly city. And all Paul could envision is more beatings. Lord, I need a break from some of the beatings.
Well, Paul, there's nobody's gonna beat you in this city. And I have a lot of people here. The most intoxicating thing about being a pastor, being evangelist, being a Christian, is when people come to Christ.
Then all the suffering, all the pain that you ladies went through in that childbearing are worth it, when that child comes out.
You begin to doubt it when they're teenagers, but you know what? You hold on. You get to be grandparents pretty soon.
And then it's glorious. It's glorious. It's exciting. The cross speaks of suffering. I said to 1 woman, you know, you wear that cross around your neck. I said it at Easter time, and it's it's really an icon.
It's a it's a symbol of suffering. And she wrote me and she said, this is a woman that came in during COVID. We rescued her during COVID. And her daughter got baptized, her daughter got saved, and you did some good things.
And now I say, that that's an icon, a symbol of suffering, that cross that you wear around your neck. And she said to me, You've lost your mind. I don't think so. I'm not a flat earther.
You're gonna hear that a lot. People are gonna wish they never brought that up. Doesn't bother me. And I'm like, okay. Fine. What does it mean to you? Butterflies and butterfly kisses, I guess, you know? He suffered on a cross.
The suffering only makes sense if I know that God's in control, which comes down to, God is good. How do I know God's good? Because he gave his son. If he gave his son, who is perfect, to die in my place, then I know God is good.
Especially, when I know how undeserving I am of that grace and that eternal life. So the tendency is to question the goodness of God. The devil comes along and says, well, Guy, that God you say you believe in isn't a very loving God.
He just took your child from you. He just took your wife, your husband from you. You just lost your job. You lost your dignity. You lost your reputation. You did the right thing, but you still got fired.
Some god you have. Where's your god now? The devil's the accuser of the brethren, so I always have to fall back upon the foundation of my faith, which is the cross. For God so loved me that he gave his only begotten son.
That whosoever believes in him will not perish, but have everlasting life. That's the message the Lord gave to me that he wrote in my heart. And then the question comes back, why me?
Not why me suffering. Why me would you choose me? So many of my friends don't have faith to believe. So many of my family members and people I know don't have the faith to believe. Where'd I get that faith to believe?
Oh, you chose me before the foundation of the Earth. I didn't I didn't see it coming. And I feel so incredibly unworthy. And so, Lord, help me to look at suffering as a privilege, rather than a punishment.
A privilege of representing Christ in these last days. Where people think of the cross, where they think of Jesus and his suffering, why would he suffer?
God is in control. He has a plan. He has a purpose. He's working all things together for good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose. My life is no accident.
My life belongs to him. I'm blood bought. He knows the way that I take, Job said. Think of Job. He knows the way that I take. He knows what he's doing. He knows the way that I take. And when he's tried me, I'm gonna come for this goal.
There's gonna be some changes on the inside of me that are really painful to to to envision and to experience, but it's through the fire. That refining process, it hurts. Goes deep within me. A lifetime of suffering, maybe.
But such a short time in comparison to eternity. If God's not in control, then suffering is a meaningless, cruel joke in a world of chaos. If all these things Abraham and Sarah suffered through, finally, they have Isaac.
Ishmael doesn't stand before God, but Isaac, take your son, your only son, Genesis 22, and offer him as a burnt offering on Mount Moriah, on a mountain I'm gonna show you.
Offer him upon Calvary, the place of the skull. And immediately, in Hebrews 11, we can see that Abraham acted in obedience.
He got up early. I would have slept in. I would have I would have milked it as long as I could, crying out to God. You wanna rethink this? You wanna rethink this?
You know, Ishmael, you told me in in my seed, all nations of the earth are gonna be blessed. Well, this is it. Ishmael's not the one. I tried to help you out with Hagar, but Ishmael's not the one. You want me to take what?
You want me to take Isaac up and offer him as a burnt offering? You wanna rethink that? And Isaac, a type of Christ. Abraham, a type of God, the father. And they're going up that that mountain. He says, Father, we've got the knife.
Father, we've got the wood. Father, we've got the fire. But Father, where is the lamb for the sacrifice? And Jehovah Jireh, God will provide God will provide himself a lamb for the sacrifice, my son.
And so Isaac willingly, like our Lord Jesus, submitted himself unto his father and was tied to that. Didn't need the ropes, tied to that altar.
And Abraham, you know the story, he lifted that knife. And his faith is such that, he's telling himself at that moment that, this knife's coming down. And if the knife comes down, God, you're the one with the problem.
I'm walking in obedience, the obedience of faith. And God, you're gonna have to raise this kid from the dead. And Jesus said, in John 8, that Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he saw it and he was glad.
God gave a picture to Abraham. A sign, a picture, a type of Jesus, God's only begotten son upon that same mountain, Mount Moriah, upon Calvary, dying upon a cross.
His death, his burial, his resurrection. The gospel was before preached unto Abraham, and Abraham believed God, and that belief in God was imputed to him for righteousness.
What's God asking you to trust him in trust him for? And Timothy, our brother, under the church of God, which is at Corinth, with all the saints, Hagia, set apart, which all are in Achaia, verse 2.
Grace be to you and peace. The Siamese twins of Paul's letters. Grace and peace. Grace is the root. Peace is the fruit. If you don't know the grace of God, you don't know the peace of God.
Grace is unmerited favor. God's unmerited favor upon you. And then as you grow, the fruit of love, of joy, of peace. For God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Grace and peace to all who trust in God, to those who believe in he is in control. The grace of knowing he's chosen you, he's handpicked you, and his hand is upon your life. Who is this god we are to trust in?
A god in control. Secondly, a god of comfort. Blessed be the god, even the father of our lord Jesus Christ, the father of mercies, and the god of all comfort. Why is he the god of all comfort? Because he's the father of mercies.
Mercy is not getting what I deserve. He doesn't give me what I'm what I deserve. When I'm angry at the suffering, when I'm angry at the circumstances of my life do do you know how many guys I read on Facebook that, it's it's funny.
I guess every boy, every girl's dreamt dreamt this when they were little. But it's kind of like that Marlon Brando movie, I could have been the contender.
You know? I could have been the contender. It's an old movie. But everybody was a baseball star when they were kids. They all had a Major League arm. They all had a major league bat. Football, whatever.
It is fantasizing about, teacher, somebody asks you, what do you wanna be? I wanna be a ball player, you know. Well these guys are my age now, and they're still looking back. Bemoning the fact, they could have made the bigs.
If I had just if I had just if I had just, you know. And I'm like, Wow. It goes that long? I gave up on those things long time ago, you know. I mean, they were good, I guess. Really good.
But I don't want what I deserve. He doesn't give us what we deserve. He's kind. So you get into the pity party and you blame God, you know, God, you kept me. You held me down. I had dreams. I had ambitions. He's a god of mercies.
He doesn't give us you want justice? You want what you deserve? No, you don't want what you deserve. We deserve hell. And what's he give us instead of hell? He gives us heaven. We deserve death, eternal separation from God.
And what's he give us life? A connection, an intimacy, fellowship with him for all eternity. We deserve poverty. And what's he give us in place of the poverty? He gives us himself. Did you catch that with Jesus? You've got everything.
He's the heir of all things. You could have a $1,000,000,000 and still be a pauper in comparison to having Jesus. With him, you have it all. It's all yours. We deserve sorrow, but he gives us comfort. He's the God of all comfort.
This word comfort is a Greek word, parakaleo. It means to call alongside. The Greek root is found 10 times in verses 3 through 7. I should've called the message, the God of comfort. But I gotta trust in him to receive that comfort.
Trusting in God. In John 14 18, Jesus was letting the guys know that I'm believing. It's expedient that I go, means profitable. Why? Because Jesus can only be, and I hate to use can only be, he can only be in one place at a time.
It's expedient that I go because I'm gonna send the comforter, the Holy Spirit that can be with you at all times, everywhere, and within your heart.
The dispensation, the work of the Holy Spirit is within and upon, with parikalea, with beside you, to help, in at conversion, being born again. Adam, you're gonna die. You touch that you touch in that, you're gonna die.
You died spiritually. Nick, you must be born again. You must be born of the spirit. Being born of the spirit is the Holy Spirit coming, living, dwelling within your heart and life as a believer.
The Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit make their abode. They're at home in your heart. You're a 3 part being. You're a Trinity, body, soul and spirit.
It's expedient that I go. I'll send the comforter. Jesus said, I will not leave you comfortless, which is a Greek word, orphanas. I'm not gonna leave you as orphans. I will come to you. Jesus promised to send the comforter.
So so check this out. Just go through a little thought in your head. My mom had me when she was 15. I wasn't aborted. She didn't abort me. I got to live. She could have left me an orphan thereafter, but she didn't. She kept me.
She married a guy that my dad, Ralph, who adopted me at 4 years old. She had 3 children by 3 different men at that time, married 3 times. And now, she's going into her 4th marriage. She's about 19 years old. I won't leave you orphans.
I'm not gonna leave you as an orphan. Had 12 good years, formative years, then she divorced my dad. Not gonna leave you orphans. Had to go live with some friends to finish high school. I won't leave you orphans.
Had to quit sports, organized sports, won't leave you orphans. I'll tell you a little secret. I just found out this year. I asked my dad later when he moved up, if I could play football in my junior year. And he said, no.
Your bones are too brittle. I really wanted to play. But I didn't. I respected what he said. Moved to my friend's Andy's house when I was a senior and again, I didn't play. I had to work, but I won't leave you an orphan.
My dad told me recently, that one of the good years, we don't always have a good year in sports, but I had a good enough year that one of the coaches came up to my dad and said, if he keeps going to the weight room and keeps progressing, he'll probably get a football scholarship.
Nobody told me that. How many of you dads would love to say that to your son?
I won't leave you orphans. I had to get a job but I had a really good boss. Really good boss. I won't leave you orphans. I wanted to get married, have a family, have kids, but I couldn't do it. And then I got saved when I was 20.
And everything changed, but the Lord had it planned all along. And I don't have those regrets of looking back. I look instead like, wow. It started out really bad, but and the Lord got me to where he wanted to get me, didn't he?
I won't leave you orphans. You've been rejected by a parent. You've been rejected by a family. You've been rejected in a divorce. You're not alone.
He said he'd never leave you nor forsake you. I won't leave you orphans. You've got the Holy Spirit. Wherever you go, you've got the Holy Spirit. Even if you go to jail, you've got the Holy Spirit living and dwelling within your heart.
And many of the Chinese Christians, they memorize whole chapters of the bible. Not allowed to have a bible. Go to jail if you have a bible. A real bible. But they've got the word of God hidden within their heart.
I won't leave you. Orphans. Verse 4, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.
That word tribulation is a Greek word, thilypsis, which means physical crushing pressure on a man.
Physical crushing pressure. Do you feel the oppression in Kitsap County? Do you feel the oppression that's escalating in the times that we're living?
As inequity is abounding and the love of many is growing cold. My escape from the oppression is to sit at Jesus' feet. The devil has to go through Jesus to get me. I wanna be as close to Jesus as I can.
I don't wanna talk to the devil. I don't wanna talk to demons. But I do feel the pressure, but I also sense God's peace that surpasses all understanding that guards our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
When I came here to Kitsap County, everybody told me how dark it was, how the devil was gonna win, the devil this, devil that. And all I ever said was, turn the light switch. The darkness flees. Devil goes away.
Devil, the gates of hell won't prevail. The gates of hell have been stormed by Jesus. He conquered all principalities and powers. He went into hell and he released the prisoners. He released the old testament saints that were there.
He that ascended first, descend to the lower parts of the earth. It's the devil that should be worried about you. As you're filled with the Holy Spirit, be being filled with the Holy Spirit.
But the reality is you're gonna feel pressure. Jesus sweat, as it were, great drops of blood under pressure. Crying great tears crying as he's approaching the cross.
As he's in the Garden of Gethsemane, the olive press pressing upon him. And what comes out? The fragrance of Christ when we're pressed. What comes out of your heart? From the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.
When you're in that pressure chamber, is it making you better? Is it making you bitter? What kind of tea flavor are you? Sometimes, I pass the test. I've got butterfly kisses for everybody.
Other times, I'm cursing the day I was born. What's this all about? You know who I am. I could've been a contender. Could've made the bigs, man. Thalypsis, it's the same word for trouble in verse 4 and verse 8.
Same word for afflicted in verse 6. The comforting eyes of a mother who's lost a child communicates to another bereaved of hers. Some of you ladies have gone through horrible things.
Some of you men gone through horrible, horrible things. I'm not the only counselor here. The Holy Spirit's the counselor. I'm not the only one that goes to hospital rooms and visits and prays.
All of us collectively with the wealth of experience we have, the comfort that we've received, we do the ministry. Paul says, the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry.
You can communicate the love of Jesus in a far greater way than me in many cases, in many ways. Verse 5, for as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds by Christ.
So we have a choice in suffering. We can rebel or we can surrender. If we rebel, then we become hard and callous. But if we yield, which for me, every day it means I humble myself, and I don't always, always, always do it.
And I have to choose to walk by faith. I have to start by humbling myself, meaning I don't get answers to the questions I'm demanding.
My prayers aren't being answered. And I have to choose to walk by faith. And when I choose to walk by faith, I have a really, really good day with the Lord.
A great day with the Lord. And our lives overflow with comfort as God's changing us from the inside. We be we can become bitter or we can become better. It's our choice.
Verse 6, and whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer. Or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.
How can we get to know the man of sorrows in Isaiah 53? He's a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief when we hid as were our faces from him. He was despised and rejected of men.
How can we get to know this Jesus? Through suffering. As we go through suffering, he's drawing near to us. The Holy Spirit's drawing near to us. And the Holy Spirit's reminding us of his sufferings, and many that have suffered.
And it becomes a badge, it becomes a blessing in knowing that he selected you to suffer for his namesake, for his glory, for his kingdom. He knew that you weren't gonna quit. He knew that you weren't gonna whine and complain.
He knew that you'd make a song out of it. That you'd be victorious. Paul in Philippians 3 verse 10, he wanted to know this this Jesus, all the things his life, all the things he could have been, all the things he was.
He said he counted it all as dung, as refuse, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ. Not knowledge about Christ, but knowing him.
And he says in Philippians 3:10, the gist of his life, the goal of his life, that I might know him. That's what I want. I wanna know Jesus. How are you gonna get to know Jesus through these fairy tales these guys are preaching?
The psychology therapeutic messages they're preaching. They're preaching a different Jesus. They got a different gospel. You're not gonna get to know the real Jesus.
He says that I might know him. The power of his resurrection who doesn't want the power of the resurrection in their life? But he doesn't stop there. And he says, in the fellowship of his sufferings, plural.
I'm willing to continue to suffer that I might get to know him. That I might experience where he says, his grace is sufficient for his strength is perfected in weakness. That I might experience the power of his resurrection in my life.
That when everything's going sideways, everything's a mess, that I'm still not defeated. That the devil doesn't win. My marriage is gonna stay intact. My kids are gonna still love me, maybe. It's not all gonna fall apart, you know.
We're not gonna quit. We're not gonna give up. We're gonna stay there. Focus upon Jesus. It's about him. Not about us having a house. Not of us having 2 houses, or cars, or pensions, or none of that.
It's about Jesus, getting to know Jesus. Nobody can ever take Jesus from me. Jesus never divorced me. He'll never leave me an orphan. He'll never reject me. I have access to his throne of grace in my time of need.
And my greatest need that I experience is to know Jesus. That's why I was made. I was made for his pleasure. We are and we're made for his pleasure, that we might know him. Do you know him? Do you know the joy of suffering?
In verse 7, in our hope of you is steadfast, knowing that as you are partakers of the suffering, so shall you be also of the consolation. God's gonna surround you, cover you with his with his loving consolation, his comfort.
His peace that surpasses all understanding, gonna guard your heart and mind through Christ Jesus. The love that's gonna just flood and fill your heart, the ability to forgive those that wrong you, is Christ like.
You can't manufacture that kind of character. It's Christ in you, the hope of glory. In Acts 541, they departed from the present of the council, rejoicing that they're accounted worthy to suffer shame for his name.
Only through suffering will you know his comfort. Who is this God we are to trust in? Number 1, a God in control. Number 2, a God of comfort. And thirdly and finally, a God of conquest.
Jesus wins. Verse 8. For we would not, brother, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, so he's in the area of Ephesus, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, in so much that we despaired even of life.
Paul is speaking experientially, not theoretically.
We wrestle with high suicide rates in the Pacific Northwest. Low vitamin d, psychotropic drugs that don't that only work for a time. Antidepressants, then after a while, they they don't seem to work anymore.
People losing hope. Things collapsing. Fear gripping people's hearts and minds. And doctor assisted suicides in Europe and heading this way and all, people despairing of life.
And we, as Christians, we experience these same things. Becoming a Christian doesn't mean that you're not gonna have depression to deal with, some more than others.
For some of you, it's your thorn in the flesh. You're gonna continue to suffer with cycles, not always down, but cycles of depression. You're gonna come in and out, in and out of depression.
And in that time of depression, is when you're gonna draw the closest to Jesus. Because he's a man of sorrows. And he's the only one. He's the only one that can get you through it. So your walk with him is not a casual walk from afar.
Your walk is a white knuckle holding on to him for dear life. The only way you can get through. David, in Psalm 42, he said, Why art thou cast down all my soul? A cast sheep is a sheep, a helpless sheep on its back.
Gained a lot of weight at Christmas time, his belly is way out there. Can't get back around like a turtle. He's on his back and and just bleeding. Bleeding. Knowing psychologically that a wolf's nearby.
Convincing himself a wolf's nearby. Imagining all the negative, all the bad stuff that's nearby. Helpless. Just bleeding. A picture of the shepherd leaving the 99 and going after just that one sheep that's out there.
Alone. Vulnerable. And David, the psalmist, a mighty man, a killer of a giant, a killer of many men. He says, why art thou cast down all my soul?
We differentiate between the body, the soul, and the spirit. His soul, the soulish part of him, The the the the place of the mind, the will, the emotion, he's overwhelmed with emotion of despair. Why art thou cast down all my soul?
Why art thou disquieted within me? He's talking to himself. How many voices in his head? No, I'm just kidding. One voice. He's talking to himself. And now he answers himself, Hope thou in God. Get my eyes off of myself.
Get my eyes off of my predicament. Get my eyes off of me, the obsession of me, the obsession of I. And put my hope, my confident expectation in God. There's the key. He will keep him in perfect peace. His mind is stayed on thee.
Be anxious for nothing but in everything through prayer and supplication with thanksgiving that your request be known unto God, and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, is gonna guard your heart and mind through Christ Jesus.
You're gonna go through depression. You're gonna go through despair. And it may come to the place you despair of even life.
You don't wanna go on. You don't wanna live anymore. Paul did. You're in good company. It's unfortunate that the gospels present in such a way that when you come to Jesus, you'll never experience this kind of stuff.
That you'll never be depressed, that you'll never be poor, that you'll never get sick, that you'll never go through divorce or have prodigal children.
You may go through all those things. And every single one of those areas of suffering draws you closer to the lord.
Doesn't drive you further away. Experientially, not theoretical, to be presses, to be weighed down, He reached a place of utter despair. A place where he didn't even want to live anymore.
Life became too painful to endure. He wanted to go to heaven to be relieved of his suffering. It's okay to be in that place, but don't stay there. Don't stay there. Focus back upon Jesus. Get your eyes back on Jesus.
Hope thou in god. Job cried out, why died I not from the womb? Why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly? Why wasn't I stillborn? What's the point of my life? There's no purpose in this life.
You've taken everything away from me. The only thing that left in my life is my wife. And she says, why don't you curse God and die? My three friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, who were once my friends, are miserable comforters.
It'd have been better if I'd have never been born. In Jeremiah 15:10, Jeremiah says, woe is me, my mother, that thou has born me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth.
You know, it's a good thing that Jeremiah wasn't married. What a poor wife he would've had. Probably like Cathy, married to a man of contention. Always fighting. Always fighting fighting fighting. Fighting over a flat earth.
I mean, when's it gonna end, you know? What's the next one? How ludicrous. Jesus came and he said, I came out to bring peace but a sword. A man's enemies would be those of your own household, Fighting everywhere.
Contention. There's a death sentence upon Paul. He says, verse 9, but we had this sense of death in ourselves. Debt to self, death to the to the cross, crucified with Christ. There's a death sentence.
I've gotta die. I've gotta die. As John the Baptist said, he must increase and we must decrease. I'm crucified with Christ. The great apostle Paul was inadequate, in and of himself, to cope with life. Someone should have told him.
Someone should have just told him from the 2000 that we're living in, if they had just could have told him what we know today. Paul, God won't give you more than you can handle. How many people have told you that?
You're just starting to describe what you're going through and you're cut off. They can't handle your suffering. They don't wanna be reminded of your testimony of suffering. It makes them uncomfortable, because you're a leper.
It might they might catch it. They don't wanna catch that. They wanna go to a church where the pastor teaches them how to be prosperous, where there's no rapture yet, where they get to raise their kids and have bigger houses.
The interest rates are still low enough. The economy is gonna come back. Trump's gonna save us. That's the kind of place they wanna be, a place of hope.
But the reality sets in. And these miserable comforters, they say, God won't give you more than you can handle. Just suck it up buttercup. Let me read to you the passage that they're alluding to. Let's see if we can understand this.
1st Corinthians 10/13, There is no temptation taken you, so it's a trial. But such is this common demand. You're not the only one that suffered this. There's a lot of unbelievers out there in the sea of life, in a storm.
Their kids have cancer. They've lost jobs. They lost money. Lost their home. You don't have a monopoly on suffering. Good. I got that. So there's no temptation taking you but such as common demand.
But God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that which you are able. Okay. He knows my frame. He remembers that I'm dust. He's not gonna give me more than I can handle.
But will with oh, I thought it was gonna take it away. But will with the temptation also make a way to escape. He's not gonna give you more than you can handle. He's gonna give you way escape.
He knows your frame. There's just one problem with that. It's like quoting, I has not seen or ear heard, neither has it entered into the hearts amend the things which God has prepared for them that love us. Oh, I can only imagine.
I can only imagine. I'll make it a song. I can only imagine. But God has revealed them unto us by his spirit. Oh. So the natural man understands not the things of God, neither can he know them because they're spiritually discerned.
But the man that's born again, God's revealing things to him by the spirit that can only be revealed by the spirit. I can only imagine. In our case here, it goes on to say, that you may be able to bear it.
There's no easy way out of this. There's no easy way of, you know, uncle Actually, that is the way out, uncle. When Jacob was wrestling with the lord, God crippled him to transform and change his name to Israel, to be governed of God.
Crippled him. He walked away a cripple. He walked away limping. God's crippling you and I. God's emptying us of ourselves. He's reached he's causing us to reach the end of ourselves.
My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength's perfected in weakness. It's when we're weak then we become strong. And so he says that you may be able to bear it. So where's my way of escape, guys?
I can't handle this. Where's my way of escape? He won't give me more than I can handle. Jesus is my way of escape. I run to him. Lord, I can't do this. Rick, why don't you take some time and set that phone down and get into my word?
Why don't you spend some time worshiping me, getting alone with me? I'll give you the capacity to handle it. I'll give you the strength to get through it. I'll change you, Rick, before I change the circumstances.
That's what he's after. That's what he's wanting. Jesus is my way of escape. Jesus is how I cope. Jesus is how I bear it. He doesn't just take it away and say, oh, you get to do this alone.
It's the cross. It's death to self. It's the end of ourselves, of our devices, our schemes, our resources. We're dead. That we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raises the dead.
There we go. Paul couldn't trust in the dollar. Are you still trusting in the dollar? You still trusting in your 401ks and your retirement social security? Uh-oh. 2025 is coming. Your senators spent all your social security.
He wasn't able to secure any government assistance. His degree and his tenure, he couldn't find another job. His resume, none of his college friends would help him. Not even Pope Peter, Peter would not help him.
Not even Jesus' mother Mary couldn't help him. And Nero certainly wasn't gonna help Paul. He was backed into a corner with no way out. You ever been backed into a corner with no way out, you despaired of even life?
You watch George Bailey, It's a Wonderful Life. And he misconceives in his head that his life is worthless. And Clarence, the angel comes and says, Oh, okay.
And he starts to see potterville and all that other stuff, and he comes back to the simplicity of faith, and trust, and friends, and love, and integrity. I don't know that they preach Christ there or not, but I wish they would.
But a simple truth of, it's much better than you realize. You don't need to look to jump off the bridge and just kill yourself, so your wife can have your insurance policy and all that. That's pretty shallow. God's greater than that.
But you're backed into according, and you think there's no way out. And this is where God works. God works in the impossible. Where God parts the Red Sea for Moses and the 2,000,000 people that are leaving Egypt.
He just parts the sea. He walk over on dry ground. Where the Joshua, when he's fighting the Ammonites, in Joshua 10 verse 12, God causes the sun, causes the Earth to stop.
He causes it to remain the light on for an entire day. So there's no turning of the earth and the day continuing. He just stopped it. How do you stop? Oh, it must be flat. It's all flat earthers. That works for us, doesn't it?
The rotation of the earth, he stops it and gives Joshua more time to deal with the Ammonites. And later, with Hezekiah, he turns it back 10 degrees to give a sign to Hezekiah that Hezekiah is gonna get 15 more years.
Only God can do that. The walls fell down in Jericho. The giant falls at the hands of a little shepherd boy, his slingshot.
God delights in the impossible. Abraham, is anything too hard for God? Is anything hard for God to raise the dead? Verse 10, who delivered us from so great a death and does deliver, in whom we trust that he will deliver us.
You see the tenses there? The past, the present, the future. The past, the present, he has, he does, he will deliver us. It's resurrection time. So we conclude, the lord wants to change me. The lord wants to transform me.
The lord wants to raise me from the dead. Christ through me. Verse 11, you also helping together by prayer for us, that for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons, thanks may be given by many on our behalf.
So keep praying, keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking, keep trusting in God. God is glorified as he answers prayer. And many times, the prayer, the answer to it is, no.
My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is perfected in weakness. The answer might be, no. I'm doing a work within you. I'm using these circumstances to transform and change you into the image of my dear son.
How are you gonna get to know a man of sorrows if you don't go through sorrow and suffering? It's a part of life. Victory is assured to those who trust in the Father of mercies, the God of all comfort.
What's the victory? You're gonna get through it. God's gonna transform and change us. God's gonna make us more Christ like. God's gonna get us through.
The sun's gonna come up the next day. We're gonna make it. We're gonna make it. We're gonna endure. We're gonna persevere. It's not the end of the world. Jesus said, I will not leave you comfortless as orphans. I will come to you.
And so the comforter's been sent. The comforter's right beside you even now. The comforter, if you're a believer, is inside of you. The holy spirit's inside of you, comforting you, letting you know that you're in his will.
That these things are happening in your life, not because you're a bad sinner and did the unpardonable sin, did bad things, and it's all you've reaped what you've sown.
No. You're trying to serve the Lord. You're trying to live for him. You're trying to teach the truth. Now you're a target, a target of the wicked one.
And the wicked one's able to assault you, to mistreat you. The circumstances are building. It's breaking. It's breaking you. But God's transforming and changing you, and you're gonna get the victory, day by day as you trust in him.
Day by day. Some things the Lord delivers us from immediately. Some of you are struggling with drugs, alcohol. Some of you are struggling with covetousness.
You want more, you want more, you want more. It's ingrained in you. You don't want the Lord to come back. You want more. You want more of this world. And the Lord's denied you. And you agonize and you agonize.
And the way that you get through it, not be falling back into being a drunk, or a womanizer, or an adulterer, or fornicator, or whatever your sin may have been, or your desire, your covetous whatever it is, your materialism.
You get through it each day and you've learned the secret of contentment.
And the secret of contentment, Paul said, I learned to be content. It's a struggle there. There's a journey there of contentment. I've learned to be content. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
I can trust him. And when I've got Jesus and I'm in fellowship with Jesus, godliness with contentment is great gain. For I brought nothing into the world, and it's certain I'm not gonna carry anything out of this world.
Be content. Enjoy your walk in relationship with the Lord. That's the secret. That's the secret of victory, is you already have everything.
If you have Jesus, you have it all. Let's pray. Father, we thank you. We thank you with this new year, and knowing whatever is taken away from us, Lord, it all belongs to you.
We're not like that monkey holding onto this world and gonna compromise and give into the devil and the world to have another couple days of pleasure.
Lord, it all belongs to you. We let go of it now. Every day, we let go of it. And, Lord, our citizenship is in heaven. We're looking for you, Lord, for whence comes our help.
We're looking for your soon return. Lord, we're stewards. We're watching. We're occupying. We're being responsible with that which you've given us. But, Lord, we're not gonna let the devil leverage us.
If the circumstances change and there's pressure upon us, of loss, Lord, we're gonna yield to you. We're gonna surrender to you. We're gonna seek your face with all of our heart, all of our mind, all of our soul, all of our strength.
And we're gonna trust you that you will decide what needs to go, what needs to stay, or maybe you wanna bring greater abundance, greater blessings this year.
I don't know. Whether we're abasing or whether we're abounding. Lord, the secret of contentment is I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
So help us, Lord. Fill us with your Holy Spirit. Give us discernment this year. Don't let us be tricked. Don't let us be betrayed by those we trust. Help us to see through the lies.
Help us, Lord, to counteract the tactics of the wicked one by sharing the gospel, by winning people to Christ, by being students of prophecy, lovers of truth and lovers of one another, to build one another up, strengthen one another, encourage one another in these last days.
Help us, Lord.
While your heads are bowed and your eyes are closed, if you're here this morning and you don't know Jesus as your Lord and savior, just lift your hand up. We wanna pray with you as you receive Christ. Anyone here this morning?
Father, thank you for those that are saved. Thank you for the assurance of salvation. Thank you that there's rejoicing in heaven among the angels when just one sinner repents, Lord. Lord, we cherish our salvation.
So now, Lord, please bless as we partake of communion together, as we have fellowship in your suffering, that we might have the fellowship and the comfort of your holy spirit even now. In Jesus name, amen.