August 8, 2023 • 44 mins
This message originally delivered on April 21, 1991.
In verse 30 Kimber references 5 passages quickly, where other verses use the same word for Conflict or Struggle. 1 Timothy 6:12 - Fight, 2 Timothy 4:7 - Fought, Hebrews 12:1 - Agony of a Race, Colossians 2:1 - Struggle, and Luke 22:44 - Jesus was in Anguish.
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Kimber Kauffman (00:00):
The Book of Philippians. We're doing a verse
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by verse study in this epistle.
Let's go to the first chapterPhilippians chapter one. And we
we left the last week in verse27. We'll pick up this week at
verses 28. And through the restof the chapter. In fact, I got
news for you, we are nowfinishing chapter one as of this
week, so you ought to beencouraged by that working good
progress. Philippians chapterone, they'll follow along as I
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read verses 27 through 30.
Whatever happens, conductyourselves in a manner worthy of
the gospel of Christ, thenwhether I come and see you, or
only hear about you, in myabsence, I will know that you
stand firm in one spiritcontending as one man for the
faith of the gospel, withoutbeing frightened in any way by
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those who oppose you. This is asign to them that they will be
destroyed, but that you will besaved and that by God, for it
has been granted to you onbehalf of Christ, not only to
believe on Him, but also tosuffer for him. Since you are
going through the same struggleyou saw I had, and now here that
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I still have, you know, isextremely common these days,
absolutely extremely common,because of the popular man
centered theology where man isthe center, and God is there to
bless man, God is running aroundman and trying to make him happy
all the time. That type ofteaching breeds, the type of
emphasis of all of the virtuesand the good things of the
gospel. In other words, there'snothing wrong with that, because
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there are many good things andmany blessings that the gospel
brings to our life. But what I'msaying is this, the emphasis is
this. Do you want joy? Do youwant peace? You want happiness?
Do you want fulfillment? Do youwant contentment? Or even some
people say do you want financialprosperity, then you just follow
this set pattern of believing inJesus asking Him for help such
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as such, and that you're gonnahave it. So much self. So much
emphasis has been made aboutthese things that many believe
that if you have trouble in yourlife, if you have affliction, if
you have difficulty, thatsomehow you're missing the point
and God is against you aresomehow you're not really a good
person, if somehow you'restruggling with some type of
difficulty. But as in all partsof the Bible, there's always a
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balance. And if we're going toteach the whole counsel of God,
that's one of the beauties ofgoing verse by verse through a
book of the Bible, carefullyexamining each word. Because in
so doing, in teaching, the wholecounsel of God, you get to
understand really the balance ofwhat it's all about. For
instance, did you notice this isPhilippians, the book of joy?
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This is the book of ofhappiness. This is the book of
talking about victory. And yetright in the middle of this
book, you see verses 2829 30 alldiscuss something very
interesting. Look at verse 28.
It talks about opposition,opposition that terrorizes or
opposition that frightens peoplethat are opposed to the gospel.
Look at verse 29. It says this,not only has been granted on you
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to believe, but also to suffer.
Look at verse 30. The strugglethat I have, you also have, and
here you have in these threeverses opposition, suffering,
and struggling. Now, I thinkit's very interesting last week,
if you weren't here, we had atug of war up here. We did, we
brought in the strongest guy inour church, and we put him at
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that end, and we brought anotherguy we put we put 10 or 11
Little kids on this end, andthey all pulled and the point is
him by himself could just pullthose little kids right across
anytime, him by himself if therewere just two or three, but you
put 10 or so on that end, andthey start to pull and guess
what Big John Langford who cansquat 750 pounds, you hurt his
hand, even on the first part, doyou know that he got hurt,
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actually, and here he is overhere and he started giving it
because we are to be pullingtogether. The enemy is not
supposed to be on this side ofthe tug rope. The enemy is
supposed to be on that side ofthe tug rope and we're supposed
to be pulling together. Why?
Because of what verse 28 saysthat's verse 27, verse 28, says,
because there are realopponents, the kind that I want
to frighten you. And becauseit's verse 29, says you're going
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to suffer and because it's verse30, says, you're going to
struggle. Now, let's talk alittle bit about verse 28. And
the real opposition, notice whatit says, without being
frightened in any way by thosewho oppose you. All says this.
Look, as you're pullingtogether, Don't be startled.
Don't be terrified. Don't bescared by anything about those
who oppose you. Those who arestrongly against you, the word
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oppose is where we get the wordanti comes out of that anti
against you, those that areagainst you. Hey, listen. In the
one thing we've got understandin really, truly preaching a
gospel message, it is somethingthat is radically different than
what most people are used to.
For some reason, we've got thisstrange idea the sort of this
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father Mulcahy type ofChristianity, where a gospel
minister is the kind of oh,okay, bless you. Everything's
fine. You know what? Theapostles went into the towns and
they chased him out with stones.
Literally big stones thrown atthem. They wanted to kill him.
People were Same we will nevereat again until Paul is dead.
There was hatred, there isviolence. Jesus said, Hey, I
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didn't come to bring peace Icame to bring division mother
and father and children will beto divide against one another
because of my coming. There'sgoing to be some real
difficulty. And the thing is onething that you ought to expect
in lazy, easygoing, America, wedon't have it too much. But down
through the ages, ever since thegospel has been preached, there
has been real opposition. And wehave become so nitpicky, what
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happened is, in the 20s, and30s, a lot of the fundamental
evangelical churches realizedthat there were the seminaries,
and a lot of the pastors weregoing liberal, they weren't
believing in the virgin birth,they weren't believing in
salvation by faith, they werestarting to turn away from the
Scripture being the Word of God.
So guess what happened. They allstarted fighting, they got
together groups, and they boundtogether fundamental groups,
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different denominations, butthey bound together, they said,
We got to get rid of these guys.
That's heresy that's wrong.
Pretty soon they got rid ofthem. They went to their way.
And these people were there. Theonly thing is, these people were
so used to fighting somebodythat they had to keep fighting.
And this group has evolved outof that what I mean by this
group, I don't mean necessarilythis particular group, but I
mean, fundamentalist Christians,if you want to call yourself out
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evangelical Christians thatbelieve in the fundamentals of
the faith is what I mean. Andthat is this, you're here on
this side, and you're pulling,but you're so used to having an
enemy that we start slapping theguy next to us. You see, that's
causes all kinds of trouble,because the opponent is not
supposed to be here, but itsupposed to be there. But in
truly purchase wizard. We've hadJewish people, just to show you
what I'm talking about have cometo this service at our church,
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and they've been highlyoffended. And guess what
offended them. The fact that wesing songs about Jesus, the fact
that we preach that apart fromJesus, you cannot know God. The
fact that we made that type ofemphasis that the Word of God is
absolutely the authority butthey said they get mad. I've
seen people steam out of theservice before they've been so
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mad. And my point is, that's alittle that's nothing compared
to what they did with Paul's.
You know what they did with Paulin Acts chapter 16, when they
founded the church at Philippi.
Guess what happened? When thosemen realized that they weren't
gonna make any money from thatdemon possessed girl who was
prophesying and foretellingfutures, and they realized
they're open, they're makingmoney was gone. They had them
beaten, Scourge, flogged, throwninto prison and they're Paul and
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Silas were singing praises andpraying, pray prayers of
adoration and worship to God.
Opposition, you know something,it hasn't happen too much in
Indianapolis is like a piece ofcake compared to where I came
from. When you're pastor, asmall little church, in a small
town over Ohio, I was chased formy life on two different
occasions with shotguns. I'm notthe kind of guy that goes around
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trying to cause trouble. I'mreally not, I hope you believe
me. I'm not trying to cause lotsof trouble, but just in holding
to the gospel and telling peoplethey need to repent. There's
hostility bred because we wantto know that we're good. We want
to think that we're okay. TheGospel says this, there's good
news. But first, there's badnews. The bad news is you're
alienated from God, you'resinful, you're far from him, you
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must repent and trust Jesus forthe forgiveness of sins. And
that brings opposition does.
Christianity cannot gain anyconsiderable strength without
materially affecting the incomeof many classes who live by the
wages of unrighteousness.
Remember Paul and emphasis, theywere not going to able to make
idols to Diana anymore? And sowhat happened? They terrorized
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ball and they brought trouble.
The Gospel brings radicalchange. Today, we want churches
listen, I hope this neverhappens in this church, but it
seems like sort of the end sortof cute little fundamental
everybody cozy, aren't we sortof nice church goes like this.
You let's don't offend anybody.
Let's don't cause people to feelguilty. Let's don't call let me
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tell you something. I wouldnever want to cause someone to
feel guilty. But you know,something. It's all part of
knowing Christ is that there isa tremendous amount of guilt,
you become poor in spirit. Yousay I wretched man that I am.
Who shall deliver me? And soanyway, my point is this.
There's a tremendous amount ofopposition. You'll notice the
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next part of verse 20. It saysthis, it says, this is a sign to
them that they will bedestroyed. Get this now this is
proof as these ungodly peopleattack Christians, and the
Christians don't retaliate bysaying, oh, yeah, you hit me,
I'll hit you bang. But instead,as Jesus was when he reviled he
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reviled not again, when they seethe quiet confidence, when they
see the encouragement, even inthe face of suffering that
Christians have, it's proved tothem that they're going to be
destroyed and that theChristians are right. That's
what verse 28 says.
Listen, the good missionary Mr.
Ellis states that when hevisited Madagascar in 1862,
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after the death of thepersecuting queen, he asked the
Christians often to what theythought must chiefly be ascribed
the astonishing increase intheir numbers during the time of
terrible suffering. And that andreplied They mentioned among
other influences, anindescribable feeling of
interest in the Christians orsympathy with them in the
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injustice and cruelty with whichthey suffered. And pressing some
of the feeling that they theremust be something important
connected with Christianity.
They saw these Christianssuffer. And they said there must
be something important about it.
Look at the way they'resuffering, the patient and most
uncommon conduct of theChristians under such trials,
not cursing their persecutors,but praying for them, not
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seeking to be revenged, but toconvert affected the minds of
many, by the way, you knew alsothe fact that Paul who at that
time was called Saul. And whenSteven was being stoned, what
did he do is the stones arefalling down upon them. He
prayed father, Elena officeagainst them. And Saul watched
that he was later converted toJesus Christ. It also says that
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the way you suffer, the world isgoing to realize that there is a
God, the world's gonna realizethat they're wrong, and they're
going to be destroyed, they'regoing to perish. But it also
says this, that it will be foryour salvation to the point here
is this as you taste of God'sstrength in the middle of your
difficulties from oppositionfrom opponents, as you taste of
that and handle it properly,it's a sign that you're going to
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be saved in the future. So it'sa proof to them that they're
lost. It's a proof to you thatyou're a child of God. Now,
notice something else. Now as wemove right into verse 29, says
this foreign has been granted toyou on behalf of Christ, not
only to believe on Him, but alsothe stuff reform, you know, this
is a verse I've always wanted toknow about. And this verse is
absolutely staggered me thisweek. This verse is so full of
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tremendous truth, please getthis don't miss it is one of the
most important parts I want youto see. Look at this. It has
been granted you. Verse 29, ithas been granted to you on
behalf of Christ not only tobelieve on Him, but also to
suffer for him. You know, theword granted translated there in
the NIV actually is the wordchorus, where we get the word
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grace. And it means this. It hasbeen granted as a gift of love.
It has been from the favor orkindness of God, it is used to
show this, that what has comeyour way has come as a gift from
God. What What's he talkingabout this, not only that you
believe on Him, but that youalso suffer for him? Are you
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with me? The Bible teaches righthere, as clear as it can be. You
can't twist it make it any otherway. The Bible says right there,
that part of God's gracious giftof salvation so that you would
believe Christ includes the factthat in believing Christ, you're
also going to suffer for him.
You can't miss it. It's it'sunmistakably clear there. It's
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been granted as a gift to God.
Now, think of me how reversed weare, we always think of how
opposite that we are compared tothe last but think of us in
compared to the church, even thechurch today. You have the
services and they say, come onforward and get your healing.
come on forward. And I'll layhands on you and you'll get your
financial woes gone. Come onforward. And we'll get rid of
all of your problems, your yourcancer, your, your diseases,
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your sore back, whatever it is.
But you realize what this is.
This is look just as surely asyou've come to believe in Him.
So also you can expect rightalong with it tremendous amount
of suffering. It's been given byGod, don't look at it as a
phone, don't look at as anenemy. Look, as as a friend, God
has a purpose in it, and you'regoing to suffer for him in
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behalf of Christ, it's beengranted that you would also not
just believe in him, but alsosuffer for him. Listen, it's an
awesome privilege to suffer forGod. The apostles left the
Sanhedrin rejoicing because theyhave been counted worthy of
suffering disgrace for his nameMajan they had been beaten,
they've been ridiculed, they'vebeen rebuked and mocked and
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everything and they leavethey're gone. Yes. Praise God
that I've encountered was on theside of Jesus, they hated him.
They're gonna hate me. He wasmore of an artist. The world
hates you. They hated me. Firstthey put me on the Cross I
suffered. You think somehowyou're better off than Jesus,
that you're not going to suffer?
Suffer, he's going to come yourway. It's an awesome privilege,
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we got to look at it as afriend. And not only that, but
the suffering comes by the waysof the struggles in life. We're
going to says in verse 30, sinceyou are going through the same
struggle, you saw I had, you'renot gonna believe this. I love
this word. I say you're notgonna believe this. That's sort
of the bad way. You're supposedto believe this. Okay, but is
this is the Greek word agony.
Here, you know, what did we getit agony as in the Sports
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Illustrated guy? I mean, whywould a sports guy he falls the
agony of defeat ax? Do you seethem? It's where we get the word
translated agony. And Paul says,you not only been called to
believe, but also to suffer andyou're going through the same
agony that I went through when Iwas there. What agony did Paul
go through? Well, remember, hewas preaching the gospel. And as
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a result of the in the town ofPhilippi, this Roman colony,
they took them and they beatthem and they flogged them. And
they threw him in jail. He wasin stocks and bonds. They was in
stock stocks and bonds. He wasin stocks. And and you didn't
know about that. That's anotherinsight. So If he was in stocks,
and he was greatly, he wasgreatly persecuted. Listen, this
same word agony is translatedfive other places in the Bible,
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guess how it's translated.
Listen to this. It's translatedfight in First Timothy 612.
Fight, the good fight of faithis translated fight or fought in
Second Timothy four, seven, it'stranslated race. In Hebrews 12.
One, it's raised the idea ofagony of eraser stretching. And
when we get this struggle,Colossians two, one and anguish.
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Jesus was in great anguish, Luke2244. He was in great anguish.
He was in great agony. And youknow what you see three or three
things here you have opposition,verse 28, you're going to suffer
verse 29, you're going to be anagony in the middle of that
suffering in verse 30. Andnotice, Paul said, you saw in me
they saw it when he was there.
And now you hear me? He's inRoman prison. And he has no
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right now. That's basically thetext. We've worked our way
through it. That's basically thetext. But now listen to me. You
may say, yeah, yeah, yeah. Butwe live in America, and you can
preach the gospel. And I canstand on a constitutional right
that I have my freedom of speechand religion, and no one's gonna
bother me, right? Let me justsay something to you, all, who
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live godly, in Christ, JesusWILL suffer persecution, every
body. And it may not be fromstones that people throw or from
webs that they use discourageyou, or from trouble that may be
brought there. But it may bethis sort and listen to me, it
might be this sort. Becauseeverybody in this room was
affected if you're followingChrist. It may be this, maybe
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you're overlooked for apromotion, because you don't
drink and party with the rest ofthem. Hey, that happens. There's
people in this church that havecome to be heartbroken, they've
missed the promotion, becausethey're not drinking party with
the rest of them. Or how aboutthis, you're divorced, you're
rejected by an unbelieving or adisobedient spouse. Or you get
sick kids. Or you're, someone inyour family or you yourself, are
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struggling with some type ofproblems, all types of cancer,
back problems troubled. I mean,you don't need to name it. It
can be various and sundry sorts,but you suffer, you suffer from
a result of it. Women that havenever been able to bear children
and have a tremendous burningdesire to have children is a
form of suffering. The motherthat stays at home. And she's
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very talented and very gifted asyou can make a good amount of
money out in the marketplace.
But she says no, it's myconviction that I don't want
somebody else that raising mykids, I need to raise my kids, I
will stay home. And we'll takean economic setback. And we'll
we'll cut our lives back to dothis. You know, something, the
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world looks at her and goes out,you lose her and you're not
really out there beingfulfilling who you are. So if I
take you to stand there, youmight suffer or loss of friends
over commitment to the Word ofGod or financial trouble. I
don't mean the kind that youknow, you're wrong, you're wrong
up 40,000 On your Visa card, andthen go oops, God, forgive me.
That's your own trouble. But I'mtalking about financial trouble
that you get inthe come your way troubles and
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pressures of life, or yourreputation being slandered on
and on and on. We could go. Buteverybody suffers. It's part of
the Christian life. It has beengraciously given by God that you
suffer. Now you have thosemiddle two lights, Nancy, and I
want you to see something. Didyou know that Scripture is full
of comments on the purpose ofsuffering? Did you know that?
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Unbelievable, the Scripturetalks over and over and over
about it? There is purpose insuffering? And please remember
that I'm gonna give you thefirst one. This is the one that
everybody thinks up. Everyonethinks of this Oh, yeah. God's
gonna get your type of sufferingand that is in regard to the
unbeliever or the disobedient.
God often sends pain andaffliction as means of judgment.
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You can read that job for seventhrough nine. But you know what?
Also this pain and afflictionare the means to turn the
individual or the nation back tothe Lord, the individual Jonah,
he disobeyed God brought a seamonster to swallow them and
actually put them out on theshore. That was some suffering
while he was in there theseaweed hanging on to the juices
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dripping down on found on thefish slapping them in the face
and all the different thingsthat could have been going on
right? You use your imagination.
Anyway, this Israel in thetribulation Zechariah 12. What
is it? God brings the GreatTribulation down and turn the
heart of Israel back. What isthat chastisement upon the
unbeliever, the disobedience.
But you all think that there'sthe tendency for people to take
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this one in the wrong way. Andthat's all they focus on. When
they think of suffering. It'sjust this and so they're out
there suffering. God's gettingme Oh, it's if God is some mean
cruel guy up there every timeyou step out of line. That's not
God. But yet this does happenwhen you persist in rebellion.
This does happen. Now, noticethe second thing, something
sometimes the believer and turnto Hebrews 12 I want you to see
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this with me. Sometimes. Thebeliever will be afflicted as a
means of loving chastisement.
You can read that in thesepassages. Now you know what that
is? I take my kids, and Idiscipline them at times, and
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they hate it and they cry, andthey don't want it. And then
afterwards, I love them. ButI've got to do it because I
don't want them to drink thepoison that's under the sink. I
mean, that's a bad illustration.
I don't think they'redisappointed for that. I don't
want them to play in the streetwith the cars are going by I
want them to stay out of thestreet because I love them. I
want them to grow up. What's thedesire for our kids, that they
would know Christ, they wouldlive for Christ all the days,
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their life, what's the purposeof raising them, so that they
could do that on their own bythemselves someday? And that
takes discipline. In fact, theBible talks about this, look at
Hebrews 12, a look with versefive what it says, and you have
forgotten that word ofencouragement that addresses you
as sons, please get this. Thisis a word of encouragement. You
understand? This is not someharsh word by some guy. That's
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it. It's a word ofencouragement, my son, do not
make light of the Lord'sdiscipline. Do not lose heart
when he rebukes you. Because theLord disciplines those he loves.
He punishes everybody that heaccepts as a son, listen, Are
you a child of God, then you'regonna have to be disciplined.
The Bible says only the parentthat doesn't love their children
never discipline them. But theparent that loves their children
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brings discipline down upon thembecause they want them to be
productive people. So God doesnothing less than his dealings
with us. He brings discipline tohelp on our lives. Look at verse
seven, endure hardship asdiscipline Hey, are you in some
hard times? Are you in somedifficulty? Is there some
problem that you're facingthat's really eat me up,
whatever can be various thesundry doesn't have to be done
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in one category can be almostanything. Listen, endure
hardship is discipline. You knowwhat you're not supposed to do?
Don't make light of it. You knowwhat that is? Be callous, or
ignore it or say, I'll be stillI can put my bottom left. handle
anything, man. There'll be thatway. Also, don't lose heart. You
know what another thing you do.
I have the I'm telling you, thisis good for me to hear. I have a
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tendency to do this. troublescome criticism comes
difficulties come some type oflittle minor suffering compared
to what Paul went through. It'sjust like a little splinter in
your finger compared to what hewent through. But I hear God
does not love me. Oh, you know,nobody cares. Oh, no, who cares?
What happens to me and you loseheart, you lose heart difficult
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times come and you either say bestoic about it or you become you
lose heart. Don't do either oneof those but endure it as
discipline. Realize that hardtimes come into your life. It's
because God isn't mad at you.
This is a word of encouragement,the text says, is there because
he loves you. And he's there tobring discipline or trouble in
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your life. I don't get any joyout of disciplining my children.
But I do it because I love them.
And so God brings this into ourlives and notice what else it
says. It says, verse nine.
Moreover, we all had humanfathers who disciplined us and
we respected them for it. Howmuch more should we submit to
the father of our spiritual ifour fathers disagreed with us
for a little while as theythought best and by the way,
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human fathers are wrong. But Goddisciplines us for our good,
that we may share in Hisholiness. No discipline seems
pleasant at the time, butpainful. By the way, if you're
disciplining your children, andit's not painful, then you're
not disciplining them. Goodpoint. Later on, however, it
produces a harvest ofrighteousness and peace for
those who have been trained byit. How do you get trained by
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it? Well, you don't becomecallous towards it. You don't
say, Oh, poor me. Nobody lovesme. You say, God, this trial is
coming my way. You're sovereign,you've allowed it into my life
for a purpose. There is no wayI'm gonna miss the point. I want
to learn that listen to whatmost Christians do at this
point. And this is veryimportant. Most Christians do
the stupidest thing and youdon't grow. You know what you
do? You get your eyes on theperson who's bringing you the
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trouble. You get your eye on thecompany that didn't give you
your fair shake. You get youreye on the person that slandered
you or it gets your eye on theperson that's causing you
trouble. It's like this. Peopleon radio we're gonna have hard
time understanding that whenyou're, you're mad. You know,
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what would you forget it? Do youknow that when those it's not
the people. It's not them endurehardship as discipline. God says
this look, you think you knowwhat's best. But he says, Boy,
they're so long. They're missingthe point. Discipline comes into
our life for a reason. It's goodit by the hand of God. Listen,
if there is any area of yourlife that is outside of the
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control of God, then God is notGod. All things come from God.
Everything that happens to yourlife, every problem, every
difficulty, everything thatcomes your way is the result of
God not reaching out because hehates you, but loving
chastisement towards hischildren. Do you ever wonder
sometimes why those who don'tknow the Lord can get away with
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murder and seams? And you as abeliever all the time you can
discipline because you have aloving Heavenly Father that is
dealing with you. And so there'spurpose hardship DISA When
suffering comes in thatdirection, now listen. There's
more here, hang on. Look atthis. Go to second Corinthians
12 When they want you to seethis, second Corinthians chapter
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12. Sometimes God will bringsuffering or trouble, as it
should be not a but aspreventative medicine to keep
believers from falling intoparticular temptation. Look at
chapter 12. And look at verseseven. Paul says, to keep me
from becoming conceited. Becauseof these surpassingly great
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revelations, there was given mea thorn in the flesh, a
messenger of Satan. Three timesI pleaded with the Lord to take
it away from me. But he said tome, My grace is sufficient for
you, my power is made perfect inweakness. Therefore, I will
boast all the more gladly aboutmy weaknesses so that Christ's
power may rest on me. That iswhy for Christ's sake, I delight
in weaknesses and insults andhardships and persecutions and
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difficulties for when I am weak,then I am strong. Do you
understand what he's saying?
Like this, this whole idea thatit's out there popular in the
movements these days that Godwants, everybody healed is
forever dismissed right now. Itsimply isn't true. The apostle
Paul was not to be healed of theproblem that he was in that was
caused him a tremendous amountof difficulty. Three times he
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went to the Lord, this is theguy that healed some 1000s of
people. And the Lord said, No,not for you. Because I've got a
preventative measure thisdifficulty, this thorn in the
flesh, whatever it was, now, allof you can tell me what it was,
because I don't know. But I'msure you do. All right. And that
is this, you can say whateverthe problem was, whatever the
difficulty was, I want you toknow God. Paul said, I
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understand. And he writes to ussometime later, I understand it
was given to me as preventativemedicine, there was a reason for
it. And that is to keep me frombeing proud. And so guess what?
God will send trouble into yourlife to keep you from falling
into sin into other areas. Hewill bring you into
difficulties, and you're goingto have to learn that you aren't
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strong enough, but that in yourweakness, God's strength is made
real. You know,I don't mean to make fun of
people that do love the Lord,because I'm sure that these
people love the Lord. But thesepeople, they're there all the
time bringing people up andsaying, you know, be able to
receive God's grace, you know,come on, what do you have? What
problem do you have, you willjust imagine, you know, what
Philippians is sayingPhilippians saying your
(27:19):
suffering is a gift of God'slove. So we can do a little bit
different this morning, youcould come up here and I could
say, come on up, you want sometrouble? Your life's been too
easy. Come on, let's go a littlebit low. Let me give it to you
no disease, trouble, you know,throw it your way. I mean, come
on, we could honestly say that,we're not going to do that. And
we would never do that. But youknow what I mean? Because it is
that much a gift from God tohelp you and your life. We can't
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forget that. Notice this? Here'sone, you know, when it comes to
the problem of pain, anybodythat says that got all the
answers to it is crazy. Buthere's one that can help you
too. And that is this.
Sometimes, no wrong one downhere. Number four, on some
occasions, the purpose of humanaffliction is to demonstrate to
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Satan, that there are those whoserve God because they love them
not because it pays to do so.
Job. God says, Have youconsidered my server Job? Job
says this, God did his job serveyou for not you think he just
serves you for he only servesyou because of what you've done
for him. My friends, you knowwhat I'm saying? There. You may
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never know some of thesufferings that you go through.
You may never understand whycertain troubles have come into
your life. You may never figureit all out. You can go back and
look into your past and uncoverevery little thing and you may
never know. But it may be this,that there's an angelic conflict
going beyond what you know. Andthat conflict is this God is
saying I say she or I say hewill stand for me, no matter how
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difficult it gets. And Satangoes no way they're not sincere.
Satan doesn't believe in genuinesincere Christians. There's a
there's a fourth reason as towhy difficulties or troubles may
come in your life. But noticethis, I'm gonna read this to
you. First Peter four, one a twosays this. Therefore, since
Christ suffered in his body, armyourselves also with the same
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attitude, because he who hassuffered in his body is done
with sin. As the result he doesnot live the rest of his earthly
life for human desires, butrather for the will of God. You
know what the point is?
Suffering is often like a shotof adrenaline promoting
sanctification. Hey, you knowwhat all mark this down all
sunshine makes a desert. If yourlife just went smooth down the
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road all the time, you'd be themost barren Christian there ever
was. But God brings difficultiesin your life. To give you a
shout out Listen, how many timeshave you been at a testimony
service, and the person standsup and gives a testimony. And it
always has something to do withthis. I was going this
direction. It's like thepsalmist Before I was afflicted,
I went astray but now I followyour word. And God has a way of
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promoting spiritual growth andby the way this forever does
away with something that I wantto make sure you don't ever fall
into. Please, please Listen tome. There's a thesis going
around these days in the name ofChristianity that goes like
this. God wants you to be happyfirst and foremost, that flushed
down the toilet. You know why?
That's a bunch of baloney. It'sno good. God wants you first and
foremost to be set apart intoholiness. He wants you to be
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growing and understanding who heis. He wants you to becoming
like Christ. And you know what,it wasn't a cry. The whole idea
of Christianity is not just makeeverybody happy, that's going to
be in heaven, that will be thefinal day. Until then there's
going to be suffering anddifficulties they're going to
come. Notice some of the thingsthey do suffering. He's like a
shot of adrenaline because itrefines your faith, we'll turn
the first Peter in a little bit.
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It's like a shot of adrenalineeducates you in regard to
Christian virtues such asendurance, and perseverance.
Mark those verses down. Itteaches you more of the
sovereignty of God so that youunderstand the Lord better. You
know what I love about thatpassage? Job. 42 234. You know
what he says? He says, Before Iwas afflicted before these
troubles came my way, guesswhat? I heard of you with the
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ear. But now that I've beenthrough the sufferings, I see
you with my eyes, you know whathe's saying? Now, I really know
God. And also gives you anopportunity to imitate Christ.
When you suffer. First Peterthree, we become like him say, I
want to be like Christ, thenfriends. Get ready to suffer.
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one more page here, hang on.
This is some of the good ones.
Oh, hang on just a few more.
Turn to for Second Corinthianswhen you got to see something. I
just love this. So if I ever sayto you, hey, how many of you
want to be used of God? He'dread many of you would raise
your ego. How many of you reallywant the fruit of holiness to be
in your life so that otherpeople are strengthened and
encouraged because of you? You'draise your hand? Well, listen,
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this suffering prepares you forfuture ministry to others who
are in trouble. Go to secondCorinthians chapter one and look
at verses three and four. Lookwhat it says. Praise be to the
God and Father of our Lord JesusChrist, the Father of all
compassion, the God of allcomfort, get this now verse
four, who comforts us in all ourtroubles? So that here's the
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purpose, God gives comfort inyour trial so that we can
comfort those in any troublewith the comfort we ourselves
have received from God. Hey, soif we prepare you for future
ministry, others do you reallywant to be used, then you gotta
ready to suffer. I told thefirst service people, there was
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two men in our church that arepreparing for the ministry in
the first service today. And Isaid, we need to pray for these
guys. So it's not just that No,I don't want to make it seem
like it's just people that aregoing into the ministry. It's
anybody that wants to be used toGod, and you know what that is?
Do you really want to be used ofGod? Well remember the same it's
doubtful whether God can everuse a man or a woman until he
crushes them. You know what thatis? A bunch of intellectual
knowledge. I told this to Stevedo it. He was our interns couple
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of years ago. I said, Steve,you're nice. You're gifted.
You're a good man, you have asincere heart for the Lord. But
I'm gonna tell you something youhaven't been tried yet. I said,
you get ready. If you're goingto be used in the ministry,
God's gonna have to try youseverely. Well, he called me up
this week in the verge of tears.
He says, Kim, I've been thinkingabout what you've been saying,
I'm in serious, serious hurtright now. We got to pray for
Steve. But you know what it is.
Suffering prepares you thecomfort that you received, when
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you were down in the mud in theblood and the beer in that
place. God has a way of gettingyou up. And that very tasting of
that same hurt. And yet tastingof the comfort of God at that
time allows you to minister asit is no doubt abundantly clear
in my life. This is so clear tome. It's unbelievable. trials
that I have gone through when Ihave been so downhearted and so
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discouraged, and athlete in thelast 11 years or even before
that, I'm telling you, the hurtseven from childhood, some of the
hurts of my family splitting upand all the things that I can
remember the pain, I want totell you something, God has
comforted me through that. Andas a result has used it so I can
minister to others. It's not allbad. Don't always look at it as
like, You got to get over it.
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Somehow God will use you becauseof it. That's what you got to
remember. And it's something sowonderful to know that he's
preparing you there is not onewasted heartache, there is not
one wasted ounce of trouble thatcomes into your life. Notice
this, I'd like you to turn toFirst Peter because I want you
to see these next couple ofverses. This is a little bit
normally we sit on one text, butthis this brings out this
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Philippians text very well go toFirst Peter, chapter one, I want
you to see something with me. Doyou know something else
suffering does? I skip down tomany suffering First Peter one
six and seven suffering provesthat your faith is genuine. Did
you know that? Hey, do youbelieve in Jesus? Yes. How do
you know? Well, you know one ofthe ways you know when you're in
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the middle of a difficult timeand in the person that gets mad.
And by the way, it's alright toget mad as long as you don't go
overboard. You get mad and yousay God why is this happening?
The Psalmist did that but justthat you always keep yourself in
check. You don't ever go towhere you condemned God or
anything. You say, Why is thishappening to hurt so bad? Look
what the Bible says, verse six,it says, In this you greatly
(35:12):
rejoice, though now for a littlewhile, you may have had to
suffer grief and all kinds oftrials. These have come purpose
notice the purpose. These havecome what various trials have
come, so that your faith ofgreater worth than gold which
parishes even though refined byfire may be proved genuine, and
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they result in praise, glory andhonor. When Jesus Christ is
revealed. Notice it may beproved genuine, you know what
happens? Listen, Jesus said thesoil went forth. So here he is
going on casting the seed up,throws the cedar, there was the
seed out, throws the seed out,throws the seat up, for kinds of
places they land. And guess whatonly one produced fruit. Some of
the soil sprang up quick and thesun dried out. Some came up in
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the trials of life bringing upsome difficulties and suffering,
you know what happens? sufferingand difficulty proves whether or
not you're really a Christian?
That's right, Your faith isproof genuine, First Peter, one,
six and seven. When you gothrough those difficulties, it's
not that you have to be totallysuccessful. And they go like
this, you know, like someterrible traumatic news coming.
Oh, this is so great record. I'mso happy. That's not what I
mean. But I mean, as thesetroubles come into your life,
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you say, God, I trust yoursovereign hand. You have got a
reason for this. And though ithurts me deeply, and though I
really wish I could have my wayand though so badly, I want to
have what seems to be a normalrequest. Couldn't I have this I
want you to know nonetheless,that you know what's best. I
will trust you like Jobe said,Though He slay me yet well, I
praise him. What kills me I'llstick faithful to Him. Suffering
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also notice the next part ofthat same verse, suffering also
prepares your faith so that atthe Bema Seat judgment, it will
result in praise, glory andhonor. Look what it says there
in verse seven. These have comeso that your faith of greater
worth than gold which parisheseven though refined by fire,
maybe prove genuine and nowthat's that's the first point
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maybe Virginia we know it's thesecond boy and they result in
praise, glory and honor whenJesus Christ is revealed, you
know the song about you see,friends remember something I've
said it before, but remembersomething. All theology goes
astray when you try to makeheaven come to earth now. All
these people are promising allthese things. Now that's wrong.
Heaven isn't heaven until youget to heaven. And praise glory
(37:27):
and honor suffering now preparesyou so that the Bema Seat
judgment when God evaluates yourlife, the suffering now will
bring praise, glory and honor ifyou know what, all through
Scripture, please get this. Goduses suffering and affliction as
a prelude to exaltation. Thetheme of suffering and glory is
prevalent in the scriptures. Gowith me to Romans eight. And
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look at the verse 18. This isthe last one next to last verse,
we're gonna look at Romanseight. And we will need a verse
18. While you're turning there,I want to read you something for
First Peter for 13. It says,Dear friends, do not be
surprised at the painful trialyou are suffering as though
something strange were happeningto you. But rejoice that you
participate in the sufferings ofChrist so that you may be
(38:11):
overjoyed when his glory isrevealed. Now look at Romans
818. Look what it says. Romans818 says this, I consider that
our present sufferings are notworth comparing with the glory
that will be revealed in us. TheApostle says this look, the
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trouble that you have now isthere for a purpose. You can't
even compare. There is a justGod, listen, people have talked
about about you, somebody'sripped you off. You know what
the Bible's clear about there isnot the one word that's come out
of someone's mouth that theywon't have to give an answer
for. And the hurt that you'vebeen with someone who's
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slandered your name, or thetrouble you've had with somebody
has ripped you off, or somebodydid something so that you've had
some big financial trouble or,or, or that. Whatever it could
be, I don't need to imagine it.
You can imagine it I'm sure. Butwhatever it is, the point here
is this. If you hang on and liveby faith, and trust God and live
(39:16):
for him, there is going to bereward in heaven. And you can be
sure that you won't beoverlooked. You're not gonna be
sent up there after years ofsuffering and then God say, oh,
yeah, who are you again? I don'tthink you're on this list. Here.
We're Oh, yeah. John, Jamie,okay, okay, well, we'll we'll
put something together for youhere. That's not the way it's
gonna be in heaven. There'sgonna be a great reward there
for the person that has gonethrough the sufferings and
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afflictions and realize it's ait's a prelude. You see this in
the life of Christ. You see thelife of Christ, you see the life
of a believer, and you see ithere in the scriptures.
You see, when the Bible saysthis trust in the Lord with all
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thine heart and lean not to yourown understanding. Please don't
try to always figure that youcan figure it out rationally,
you may neverwant to close by reading your
passage out of revelation 21. Ifyou can meet me there, you can
read it with me otherwise, I'llread it to you. Revelation 21
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Because it says verse, verse,one of revelation 21, then I saw
a new heaven, and a new earth,for the first heaven and the
first earth had passed away. Andthere was no longer any See, I
saw the holy city of the NewJerusalem coming down out of
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heaven from God prepared as abride beautifully dressed for
her husband. This is heavenfriends, look at this, verse
three. And I heard a loud voicefrom the throne saying, now the
dwelling of God is with men, andhe will live with them. They
will be his people. And Godhimself will be with them and be
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their God. Verse four, He willwipe every tear from their eye.
They will be no more death, ormourning, or crying, or pain. Or
the old order of things haspassed away. Please understand
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something. A balanced view ofChristian doctrine tells you
this. Yes, there is joy. Yes,there is happiness. Yes, there
is peace. But there is alsotrouble and difficulty and
trials. And those two will be apart of our life in an
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unmistakable way, until we getto heaven. And then there'll be
a day when there'll be no more,there will no longer be that
kind of problems. And so theApostle Paul says, Do you
through the book of Philippianstoday, hey, you believe in him,
it's the book of joy. Also, hangin there and read. Remember to
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live by faith in the midst ofyour suffering in the midst of
your agony in the midst of yourtrouble. Let's pray.
Thank you, Father. For thewonderful insight into everyday
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life that we receive fromPhilippians 120 through 30 and
many other scriptures. Help usto buy faith to understand it's
for some reason, it's hard forus to understand that.
sufferings are granted to us asa loving gift from your hand to
help us mature. Even theagonizing struggles that we have
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in our life cause father, us tobe humble people that submit to
your will with faith that we cancompletely trust that you know
what you're doing. In Jesus namewe pray, Amen.
The Book of Philippians. We're doing a verse
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by verse study in this epistle.
Let's go to the first chapterPhilippians chapter one. And we
we left the last week in verse27. We'll pick up this week at
verses 28. And through the restof the chapter. In fact, I got
news for you, we are nowfinishing chapter one as of this
week, so you ought to beencouraged by that working good
progress. Philippians chapterone, they'll follow along as I
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read verses 27 through 30.
Whatever happens, conductyourselves in a manner worthy of
the gospel of Christ, thenwhether I come and see you, or
only hear about you, in myabsence, I will know that you
stand firm in one spiritcontending as one man for the
faith of the gospel, withoutbeing frightened in any way by
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those who oppose you. This is asign to them that they will be
destroyed, but that you will besaved and that by God, for it
has been granted to you onbehalf of Christ, not only to
believe on Him, but also tosuffer for him. Since you are
going through the same struggleyou saw I had, and now here that
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I still have, you know, isextremely common these days,
absolutely extremely common,because of the popular man
centered theology where man isthe center, and God is there to
bless man, God is running aroundman and trying to make him happy
all the time. That type ofteaching breeds, the type of
emphasis of all of the virtuesand the good things of the
gospel. In other words, there'snothing wrong with that, because
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there are many good things andmany blessings that the gospel
brings to our life. But what I'msaying is this, the emphasis is
this. Do you want joy? Do youwant peace? You want happiness?
Do you want fulfillment? Do youwant contentment? Or even some
people say do you want financialprosperity, then you just follow
this set pattern of believing inJesus asking Him for help such
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as such, and that you're gonnahave it. So much self. So much
emphasis has been made aboutthese things that many believe
that if you have trouble in yourlife, if you have affliction, if
you have difficulty, thatsomehow you're missing the point
and God is against you aresomehow you're not really a good
person, if somehow you'restruggling with some type of
difficulty. But as in all partsof the Bible, there's always a
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balance. And if we're going toteach the whole counsel of God,
that's one of the beauties ofgoing verse by verse through a
book of the Bible, carefullyexamining each word. Because in
so doing, in teaching, the wholecounsel of God, you get to
understand really the balance ofwhat it's all about. For
instance, did you notice this isPhilippians, the book of joy?
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This is the book of ofhappiness. This is the book of
talking about victory. And yetright in the middle of this
book, you see verses 2829 30 alldiscuss something very
interesting. Look at verse 28.
It talks about opposition,opposition that terrorizes or
opposition that frightens peoplethat are opposed to the gospel.
Look at verse 29. It says this,not only has been granted on you
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to believe, but also to suffer.
Look at verse 30. The strugglethat I have, you also have, and
here you have in these threeverses opposition, suffering,
and struggling. Now, I thinkit's very interesting last week,
if you weren't here, we had atug of war up here. We did, we
brought in the strongest guy inour church, and we put him at
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that end, and we brought anotherguy we put we put 10 or 11
Little kids on this end, andthey all pulled and the point is
him by himself could just pullthose little kids right across
anytime, him by himself if therewere just two or three, but you
put 10 or so on that end, andthey start to pull and guess
what Big John Langford who cansquat 750 pounds, you hurt his
hand, even on the first part, doyou know that he got hurt,
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actually, and here he is overhere and he started giving it
because we are to be pullingtogether. The enemy is not
supposed to be on this side ofthe tug rope. The enemy is
supposed to be on that side ofthe tug rope and we're supposed
to be pulling together. Why?
Because of what verse 28 saysthat's verse 27, verse 28, says,
because there are realopponents, the kind that I want
to frighten you. And becauseit's verse 29, says you're going
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to suffer and because it's verse30, says, you're going to
struggle. Now, let's talk alittle bit about verse 28. And
the real opposition, notice whatit says, without being
frightened in any way by thosewho oppose you. All says this.
Look, as you're pullingtogether, Don't be startled.
Don't be terrified. Don't bescared by anything about those
who oppose you. Those who arestrongly against you, the word
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oppose is where we get the wordanti comes out of that anti
against you, those that areagainst you. Hey, listen. In the
one thing we've got understandin really, truly preaching a
gospel message, it is somethingthat is radically different than
what most people are used to.
For some reason, we've got thisstrange idea the sort of this
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father Mulcahy type ofChristianity, where a gospel
minister is the kind of oh,okay, bless you. Everything's
fine. You know what? Theapostles went into the towns and
they chased him out with stones.
Literally big stones thrown atthem. They wanted to kill him.
People were Same we will nevereat again until Paul is dead.
There was hatred, there isviolence. Jesus said, Hey, I
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didn't come to bring peace Icame to bring division mother
and father and children will beto divide against one another
because of my coming. There'sgoing to be some real
difficulty. And the thing is onething that you ought to expect
in lazy, easygoing, America, wedon't have it too much. But down
through the ages, ever since thegospel has been preached, there
has been real opposition. And wehave become so nitpicky, what
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happened is, in the 20s, and30s, a lot of the fundamental
evangelical churches realizedthat there were the seminaries,
and a lot of the pastors weregoing liberal, they weren't
believing in the virgin birth,they weren't believing in
salvation by faith, they werestarting to turn away from the
Scripture being the Word of God.
So guess what happened. They allstarted fighting, they got
together groups, and they boundtogether fundamental groups,
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different denominations, butthey bound together, they said,
We got to get rid of these guys.
That's heresy that's wrong.
Pretty soon they got rid ofthem. They went to their way.
And these people were there. Theonly thing is, these people were
so used to fighting somebodythat they had to keep fighting.
And this group has evolved outof that what I mean by this
group, I don't mean necessarilythis particular group, but I
mean, fundamentalist Christians,if you want to call yourself out
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evangelical Christians thatbelieve in the fundamentals of
the faith is what I mean. Andthat is this, you're here on
this side, and you're pulling,but you're so used to having an
enemy that we start slapping theguy next to us. You see, that's
causes all kinds of trouble,because the opponent is not
supposed to be here, but itsupposed to be there. But in
truly purchase wizard. We've hadJewish people, just to show you
what I'm talking about have cometo this service at our church,
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and they've been highlyoffended. And guess what
offended them. The fact that wesing songs about Jesus, the fact
that we preach that apart fromJesus, you cannot know God. The
fact that we made that type ofemphasis that the Word of God is
absolutely the authority butthey said they get mad. I've
seen people steam out of theservice before they've been so
(06:53):
mad. And my point is, that's alittle that's nothing compared
to what they did with Paul's.
You know what they did with Paulin Acts chapter 16, when they
founded the church at Philippi.
Guess what happened? When thosemen realized that they weren't
gonna make any money from thatdemon possessed girl who was
prophesying and foretellingfutures, and they realized
they're open, they're makingmoney was gone. They had them
beaten, Scourge, flogged, throwninto prison and they're Paul and
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Silas were singing praises andpraying, pray prayers of
adoration and worship to God.
Opposition, you know something,it hasn't happen too much in
Indianapolis is like a piece ofcake compared to where I came
from. When you're pastor, asmall little church, in a small
town over Ohio, I was chased formy life on two different
occasions with shotguns. I'm notthe kind of guy that goes around
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trying to cause trouble. I'mreally not, I hope you believe
me. I'm not trying to cause lotsof trouble, but just in holding
to the gospel and telling peoplethey need to repent. There's
hostility bred because we wantto know that we're good. We want
to think that we're okay. TheGospel says this, there's good
news. But first, there's badnews. The bad news is you're
alienated from God, you'resinful, you're far from him, you
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must repent and trust Jesus forthe forgiveness of sins. And
that brings opposition does.
Christianity cannot gain anyconsiderable strength without
materially affecting the incomeof many classes who live by the
wages of unrighteousness.
Remember Paul and emphasis, theywere not going to able to make
idols to Diana anymore? And sowhat happened? They terrorized
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ball and they brought trouble.
The Gospel brings radicalchange. Today, we want churches
listen, I hope this neverhappens in this church, but it
seems like sort of the end sortof cute little fundamental
everybody cozy, aren't we sortof nice church goes like this.
You let's don't offend anybody.
Let's don't cause people to feelguilty. Let's don't call let me
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tell you something. I wouldnever want to cause someone to
feel guilty. But you know,something. It's all part of
knowing Christ is that there isa tremendous amount of guilt,
you become poor in spirit. Yousay I wretched man that I am.
Who shall deliver me? And soanyway, my point is this.
There's a tremendous amount ofopposition. You'll notice the
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next part of verse 20. It saysthis, it says, this is a sign to
them that they will bedestroyed. Get this now this is
proof as these ungodly peopleattack Christians, and the
Christians don't retaliate bysaying, oh, yeah, you hit me,
I'll hit you bang. But instead,as Jesus was when he reviled he
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reviled not again, when they seethe quiet confidence, when they
see the encouragement, even inthe face of suffering that
Christians have, it's proved tothem that they're going to be
destroyed and that theChristians are right. That's
what verse 28 says.
Listen, the good missionary Mr.
Ellis states that when hevisited Madagascar in 1862,
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after the death of thepersecuting queen, he asked the
Christians often to what theythought must chiefly be ascribed
the astonishing increase intheir numbers during the time of
terrible suffering. And that andreplied They mentioned among
other influences, anindescribable feeling of
interest in the Christians orsympathy with them in the
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injustice and cruelty with whichthey suffered. And pressing some
of the feeling that they theremust be something important
connected with Christianity.
They saw these Christianssuffer. And they said there must
be something important about it.
Look at the way they'resuffering, the patient and most
uncommon conduct of theChristians under such trials,
not cursing their persecutors,but praying for them, not
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seeking to be revenged, but toconvert affected the minds of
many, by the way, you knew alsothe fact that Paul who at that
time was called Saul. And whenSteven was being stoned, what
did he do is the stones arefalling down upon them. He
prayed father, Elena officeagainst them. And Saul watched
that he was later converted toJesus Christ. It also says that
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the way you suffer, the world isgoing to realize that there is a
God, the world's gonna realizethat they're wrong, and they're
going to be destroyed, they'regoing to perish. But it also
says this, that it will be foryour salvation to the point here
is this as you taste of God'sstrength in the middle of your
difficulties from oppositionfrom opponents, as you taste of
that and handle it properly,it's a sign that you're going to
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be saved in the future. So it'sa proof to them that they're
lost. It's a proof to you thatyou're a child of God. Now,
notice something else. Now as wemove right into verse 29, says
this foreign has been granted toyou on behalf of Christ, not
only to believe on Him, but alsothe stuff reform, you know, this
is a verse I've always wanted toknow about. And this verse is
absolutely staggered me thisweek. This verse is so full of
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tremendous truth, please getthis don't miss it is one of the
most important parts I want youto see. Look at this. It has
been granted you. Verse 29, ithas been granted to you on
behalf of Christ not only tobelieve on Him, but also to
suffer for him. You know, theword granted translated there in
the NIV actually is the wordchorus, where we get the word
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grace. And it means this. It hasbeen granted as a gift of love.
It has been from the favor orkindness of God, it is used to
show this, that what has comeyour way has come as a gift from
God. What What's he talkingabout this, not only that you
believe on Him, but that youalso suffer for him? Are you
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with me? The Bible teaches righthere, as clear as it can be. You
can't twist it make it any otherway. The Bible says right there,
that part of God's gracious giftof salvation so that you would
believe Christ includes the factthat in believing Christ, you're
also going to suffer for him.
You can't miss it. It's it'sunmistakably clear there. It's
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been granted as a gift to God.
Now, think of me how reversed weare, we always think of how
opposite that we are compared tothe last but think of us in
compared to the church, even thechurch today. You have the
services and they say, come onforward and get your healing.
come on forward. And I'll layhands on you and you'll get your
financial woes gone. Come onforward. And we'll get rid of
all of your problems, your yourcancer, your, your diseases,
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your sore back, whatever it is.
But you realize what this is.
This is look just as surely asyou've come to believe in Him.
So also you can expect rightalong with it tremendous amount
of suffering. It's been given byGod, don't look at it as a
phone, don't look at as anenemy. Look, as as a friend, God
has a purpose in it, and you'regoing to suffer for him in
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behalf of Christ, it's beengranted that you would also not
just believe in him, but alsosuffer for him. Listen, it's an
awesome privilege to suffer forGod. The apostles left the
Sanhedrin rejoicing because theyhave been counted worthy of
suffering disgrace for his nameMajan they had been beaten,
they've been ridiculed, they'vebeen rebuked and mocked and
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everything and they leavethey're gone. Yes. Praise God
that I've encountered was on theside of Jesus, they hated him.
They're gonna hate me. He wasmore of an artist. The world
hates you. They hated me. Firstthey put me on the Cross I
suffered. You think somehowyou're better off than Jesus,
that you're not going to suffer?
Suffer, he's going to come yourway. It's an awesome privilege,
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we got to look at it as afriend. And not only that, but
the suffering comes by the waysof the struggles in life. We're
going to says in verse 30, sinceyou are going through the same
struggle, you saw I had, you'renot gonna believe this. I love
this word. I say you're notgonna believe this. That's sort
of the bad way. You're supposedto believe this. Okay, but is
this is the Greek word agony.
Here, you know, what did we getit agony as in the Sports
(14:24):
Illustrated guy? I mean, whywould a sports guy he falls the
agony of defeat ax? Do you seethem? It's where we get the word
translated agony. And Paul says,you not only been called to
believe, but also to suffer andyou're going through the same
agony that I went through when Iwas there. What agony did Paul
go through? Well, remember, hewas preaching the gospel. And as
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a result of the in the town ofPhilippi, this Roman colony,
they took them and they beatthem and they flogged them. And
they threw him in jail. He wasin stocks and bonds. They was in
stock stocks and bonds. He wasin stocks. And and you didn't
know about that. That's anotherinsight. So If he was in stocks,
and he was greatly, he wasgreatly persecuted. Listen, this
same word agony is translatedfive other places in the Bible,
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guess how it's translated.
Listen to this. It's translatedfight in First Timothy 612.
Fight, the good fight of faithis translated fight or fought in
Second Timothy four, seven, it'stranslated race. In Hebrews 12.
One, it's raised the idea ofagony of eraser stretching. And
when we get this struggle,Colossians two, one and anguish.
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Jesus was in great anguish, Luke2244. He was in great anguish.
He was in great agony. And youknow what you see three or three
things here you have opposition,verse 28, you're going to suffer
verse 29, you're going to be anagony in the middle of that
suffering in verse 30. Andnotice, Paul said, you saw in me
they saw it when he was there.
And now you hear me? He's inRoman prison. And he has no
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right now. That's basically thetext. We've worked our way
through it. That's basically thetext. But now listen to me. You
may say, yeah, yeah, yeah. Butwe live in America, and you can
preach the gospel. And I canstand on a constitutional right
that I have my freedom of speechand religion, and no one's gonna
bother me, right? Let me justsay something to you, all, who
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live godly, in Christ, JesusWILL suffer persecution, every
body. And it may not be fromstones that people throw or from
webs that they use discourageyou, or from trouble that may be
brought there. But it may bethis sort and listen to me, it
might be this sort. Becauseeverybody in this room was
affected if you're followingChrist. It may be this, maybe
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you're overlooked for apromotion, because you don't
drink and party with the rest ofthem. Hey, that happens. There's
people in this church that havecome to be heartbroken, they've
missed the promotion, becausethey're not drinking party with
the rest of them. Or how aboutthis, you're divorced, you're
rejected by an unbelieving or adisobedient spouse. Or you get
sick kids. Or you're, someone inyour family or you yourself, are
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struggling with some type ofproblems, all types of cancer,
back problems troubled. I mean,you don't need to name it. It
can be various and sundry sorts,but you suffer, you suffer from
a result of it. Women that havenever been able to bear children
and have a tremendous burningdesire to have children is a
form of suffering. The motherthat stays at home. And she's
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very talented and very gifted asyou can make a good amount of
money out in the marketplace.
But she says no, it's myconviction that I don't want
somebody else that raising mykids, I need to raise my kids, I
will stay home. And we'll takean economic setback. And we'll
we'll cut our lives back to dothis. You know, something, the
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world looks at her and goes out,you lose her and you're not
really out there beingfulfilling who you are. So if I
take you to stand there, youmight suffer or loss of friends
over commitment to the Word ofGod or financial trouble. I
don't mean the kind that youknow, you're wrong, you're wrong
up 40,000 On your Visa card, andthen go oops, God, forgive me.
That's your own trouble. But I'mtalking about financial trouble
that you get inthe come your way troubles and
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pressures of life, or yourreputation being slandered on
and on and on. We could go. Buteverybody suffers. It's part of
the Christian life. It has beengraciously given by God that you
suffer. Now you have thosemiddle two lights, Nancy, and I
want you to see something. Didyou know that Scripture is full
of comments on the purpose ofsuffering? Did you know that?
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Unbelievable, the Scripturetalks over and over and over
about it? There is purpose insuffering? And please remember
that I'm gonna give you thefirst one. This is the one that
everybody thinks up. Everyonethinks of this Oh, yeah. God's
gonna get your type of sufferingand that is in regard to the
unbeliever or the disobedient.
God often sends pain andaffliction as means of judgment.
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You can read that job for seventhrough nine. But you know what?
Also this pain and afflictionare the means to turn the
individual or the nation back tothe Lord, the individual Jonah,
he disobeyed God brought a seamonster to swallow them and
actually put them out on theshore. That was some suffering
while he was in there theseaweed hanging on to the juices
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dripping down on found on thefish slapping them in the face
and all the different thingsthat could have been going on
right? You use your imagination.
Anyway, this Israel in thetribulation Zechariah 12. What
is it? God brings the GreatTribulation down and turn the
heart of Israel back. What isthat chastisement upon the
unbeliever, the disobedience.
But you all think that there'sthe tendency for people to take
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this one in the wrong way. Andthat's all they focus on. When
they think of suffering. It'sjust this and so they're out
there suffering. God's gettingme Oh, it's if God is some mean
cruel guy up there every timeyou step out of line. That's not
God. But yet this does happenwhen you persist in rebellion.
This does happen. Now, noticethe second thing, something
sometimes the believer and turnto Hebrews 12 I want you to see
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this with me. Sometimes. Thebeliever will be afflicted as a
means of loving chastisement.
You can read that in thesepassages. Now you know what that
is? I take my kids, and Idiscipline them at times, and
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they hate it and they cry, andthey don't want it. And then
afterwards, I love them. ButI've got to do it because I
don't want them to drink thepoison that's under the sink. I
mean, that's a bad illustration.
I don't think they'redisappointed for that. I don't
want them to play in the streetwith the cars are going by I
want them to stay out of thestreet because I love them. I
want them to grow up. What's thedesire for our kids, that they
would know Christ, they wouldlive for Christ all the days,
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their life, what's the purposeof raising them, so that they
could do that on their own bythemselves someday? And that
takes discipline. In fact, theBible talks about this, look at
Hebrews 12, a look with versefive what it says, and you have
forgotten that word ofencouragement that addresses you
as sons, please get this. Thisis a word of encouragement. You
understand? This is not someharsh word by some guy. That's
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it. It's a word ofencouragement, my son, do not
make light of the Lord'sdiscipline. Do not lose heart
when he rebukes you. Because theLord disciplines those he loves.
He punishes everybody that heaccepts as a son, listen, Are
you a child of God, then you'regonna have to be disciplined.
The Bible says only the parentthat doesn't love their children
never discipline them. But theparent that loves their children
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brings discipline down upon thembecause they want them to be
productive people. So God doesnothing less than his dealings
with us. He brings discipline tohelp on our lives. Look at verse
seven, endure hardship asdiscipline Hey, are you in some
hard times? Are you in somedifficulty? Is there some
problem that you're facingthat's really eat me up,
whatever can be various thesundry doesn't have to be done
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in one category can be almostanything. Listen, endure
hardship is discipline. You knowwhat you're not supposed to do?
Don't make light of it. You knowwhat that is? Be callous, or
ignore it or say, I'll be stillI can put my bottom left. handle
anything, man. There'll be thatway. Also, don't lose heart. You
know what another thing you do.
I have the I'm telling you, thisis good for me to hear. I have a
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tendency to do this. troublescome criticism comes
difficulties come some type oflittle minor suffering compared
to what Paul went through. It'sjust like a little splinter in
your finger compared to what hewent through. But I hear God
does not love me. Oh, you know,nobody cares. Oh, no, who cares?
What happens to me and you loseheart, you lose heart difficult
(22:19):
times come and you either say bestoic about it or you become you
lose heart. Don't do either oneof those but endure it as
discipline. Realize that hardtimes come into your life. It's
because God isn't mad at you.
This is a word of encouragement,the text says, is there because
he loves you. And he's there tobring discipline or trouble in
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your life. I don't get any joyout of disciplining my children.
But I do it because I love them.
And so God brings this into ourlives and notice what else it
says. It says, verse nine.
Moreover, we all had humanfathers who disciplined us and
we respected them for it. Howmuch more should we submit to
the father of our spiritual ifour fathers disagreed with us
for a little while as theythought best and by the way,
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human fathers are wrong. But Goddisciplines us for our good,
that we may share in Hisholiness. No discipline seems
pleasant at the time, butpainful. By the way, if you're
disciplining your children, andit's not painful, then you're
not disciplining them. Goodpoint. Later on, however, it
produces a harvest ofrighteousness and peace for
those who have been trained byit. How do you get trained by
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it? Well, you don't becomecallous towards it. You don't
say, Oh, poor me. Nobody lovesme. You say, God, this trial is
coming my way. You're sovereign,you've allowed it into my life
for a purpose. There is no wayI'm gonna miss the point. I want
to learn that listen to whatmost Christians do at this
point. And this is veryimportant. Most Christians do
the stupidest thing and youdon't grow. You know what you
do? You get your eyes on theperson who's bringing you the
(23:45):
trouble. You get your eye on thecompany that didn't give you
your fair shake. You get youreye on the person that slandered
you or it gets your eye on theperson that's causing you
trouble. It's like this. Peopleon radio we're gonna have hard
time understanding that whenyou're, you're mad. You know,
(24:05):
what would you forget it? Do youknow that when those it's not
the people. It's not them endurehardship as discipline. God says
this look, you think you knowwhat's best. But he says, Boy,
they're so long. They're missingthe point. Discipline comes into
our life for a reason. It's goodit by the hand of God. Listen,
if there is any area of yourlife that is outside of the
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control of God, then God is notGod. All things come from God.
Everything that happens to yourlife, every problem, every
difficulty, everything thatcomes your way is the result of
God not reaching out because hehates you, but loving
chastisement towards hischildren. Do you ever wonder
sometimes why those who don'tknow the Lord can get away with
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murder and seams? And you as abeliever all the time you can
discipline because you have aloving Heavenly Father that is
dealing with you. And so there'spurpose hardship DISA When
suffering comes in thatdirection, now listen. There's
more here, hang on. Look atthis. Go to second Corinthians
12 When they want you to seethis, second Corinthians chapter
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12. Sometimes God will bringsuffering or trouble, as it
should be not a but aspreventative medicine to keep
believers from falling intoparticular temptation. Look at
chapter 12. And look at verseseven. Paul says, to keep me
from becoming conceited. Becauseof these surpassingly great
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revelations, there was given mea thorn in the flesh, a
messenger of Satan. Three timesI pleaded with the Lord to take
it away from me. But he said tome, My grace is sufficient for
you, my power is made perfect inweakness. Therefore, I will
boast all the more gladly aboutmy weaknesses so that Christ's
power may rest on me. That iswhy for Christ's sake, I delight
in weaknesses and insults andhardships and persecutions and
(25:56):
difficulties for when I am weak,then I am strong. Do you
understand what he's saying?
Like this, this whole idea thatit's out there popular in the
movements these days that Godwants, everybody healed is
forever dismissed right now. Itsimply isn't true. The apostle
Paul was not to be healed of theproblem that he was in that was
caused him a tremendous amountof difficulty. Three times he
(26:17):
went to the Lord, this is theguy that healed some 1000s of
people. And the Lord said, No,not for you. Because I've got a
preventative measure thisdifficulty, this thorn in the
flesh, whatever it was, now, allof you can tell me what it was,
because I don't know. But I'msure you do. All right. And that
is this, you can say whateverthe problem was, whatever the
difficulty was, I want you toknow God. Paul said, I
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understand. And he writes to ussometime later, I understand it
was given to me as preventativemedicine, there was a reason for
it. And that is to keep me frombeing proud. And so guess what?
God will send trouble into yourlife to keep you from falling
into sin into other areas. Hewill bring you into
difficulties, and you're goingto have to learn that you aren't
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strong enough, but that in yourweakness, God's strength is made
real. You know,I don't mean to make fun of
people that do love the Lord,because I'm sure that these
people love the Lord. But thesepeople, they're there all the
time bringing people up andsaying, you know, be able to
receive God's grace, you know,come on, what do you have? What
problem do you have, you willjust imagine, you know, what
Philippians is sayingPhilippians saying your
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suffering is a gift of God'slove. So we can do a little bit
different this morning, youcould come up here and I could
say, come on up, you want sometrouble? Your life's been too
easy. Come on, let's go a littlebit low. Let me give it to you
no disease, trouble, you know,throw it your way. I mean, come
on, we could honestly say that,we're not going to do that. And
we would never do that. But youknow what I mean? Because it is
that much a gift from God tohelp you and your life. We can't
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forget that. Notice this? Here'sone, you know, when it comes to
the problem of pain, anybodythat says that got all the
answers to it is crazy. Buthere's one that can help you
too. And that is this.
Sometimes, no wrong one downhere. Number four, on some
occasions, the purpose of humanaffliction is to demonstrate to
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Satan, that there are those whoserve God because they love them
not because it pays to do so.
Job. God says, Have youconsidered my server Job? Job
says this, God did his job serveyou for not you think he just
serves you for he only servesyou because of what you've done
for him. My friends, you knowwhat I'm saying? There. You may
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never know some of thesufferings that you go through.
You may never understand whycertain troubles have come into
your life. You may never figureit all out. You can go back and
look into your past and uncoverevery little thing and you may
never know. But it may be this,that there's an angelic conflict
going beyond what you know. Andthat conflict is this God is
saying I say she or I say hewill stand for me, no matter how
(28:45):
difficult it gets. And Satangoes no way they're not sincere.
Satan doesn't believe in genuinesincere Christians. There's a
there's a fourth reason as towhy difficulties or troubles may
come in your life. But noticethis, I'm gonna read this to
you. First Peter four, one a twosays this. Therefore, since
Christ suffered in his body, armyourselves also with the same
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attitude, because he who hassuffered in his body is done
with sin. As the result he doesnot live the rest of his earthly
life for human desires, butrather for the will of God. You
know what the point is?
Suffering is often like a shotof adrenaline promoting
sanctification. Hey, you knowwhat all mark this down all
sunshine makes a desert. If yourlife just went smooth down the
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road all the time, you'd be themost barren Christian there ever
was. But God brings difficultiesin your life. To give you a
shout out Listen, how many timeshave you been at a testimony
service, and the person standsup and gives a testimony. And it
always has something to do withthis. I was going this
direction. It's like thepsalmist Before I was afflicted,
I went astray but now I followyour word. And God has a way of
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promoting spiritual growth andby the way this forever does
away with something that I wantto make sure you don't ever fall
into. Please, please Listen tome. There's a thesis going
around these days in the name ofChristianity that goes like
this. God wants you to be happyfirst and foremost, that flushed
down the toilet. You know why?
That's a bunch of baloney. It'sno good. God wants you first and
foremost to be set apart intoholiness. He wants you to be
(30:16):
growing and understanding who heis. He wants you to becoming
like Christ. And you know what,it wasn't a cry. The whole idea
of Christianity is not just makeeverybody happy, that's going to
be in heaven, that will be thefinal day. Until then there's
going to be suffering anddifficulties they're going to
come. Notice some of the thingsthey do suffering. He's like a
shot of adrenaline because itrefines your faith, we'll turn
the first Peter in a little bit.
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It's like a shot of adrenalineeducates you in regard to
Christian virtues such asendurance, and perseverance.
Mark those verses down. Itteaches you more of the
sovereignty of God so that youunderstand the Lord better. You
know what I love about thatpassage? Job. 42 234. You know
what he says? He says, Before Iwas afflicted before these
troubles came my way, guesswhat? I heard of you with the
(31:00):
ear. But now that I've beenthrough the sufferings, I see
you with my eyes, you know whathe's saying? Now, I really know
God. And also gives you anopportunity to imitate Christ.
When you suffer. First Peterthree, we become like him say, I
want to be like Christ, thenfriends. Get ready to suffer.
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one more page here, hang on.
This is some of the good ones.
Oh, hang on just a few more.
Turn to for Second Corinthianswhen you got to see something. I
just love this. So if I ever sayto you, hey, how many of you
want to be used of God? He'dread many of you would raise
your ego. How many of you reallywant the fruit of holiness to be
in your life so that otherpeople are strengthened and
encouraged because of you? You'draise your hand? Well, listen,
(31:49):
this suffering prepares you forfuture ministry to others who
are in trouble. Go to secondCorinthians chapter one and look
at verses three and four. Lookwhat it says. Praise be to the
God and Father of our Lord JesusChrist, the Father of all
compassion, the God of allcomfort, get this now verse
four, who comforts us in all ourtroubles? So that here's the
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purpose, God gives comfort inyour trial so that we can
comfort those in any troublewith the comfort we ourselves
have received from God. Hey, soif we prepare you for future
ministry, others do you reallywant to be used, then you gotta
ready to suffer. I told thefirst service people, there was
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two men in our church that arepreparing for the ministry in
the first service today. And Isaid, we need to pray for these
guys. So it's not just that No,I don't want to make it seem
like it's just people that aregoing into the ministry. It's
anybody that wants to be used toGod, and you know what that is?
Do you really want to be used ofGod? Well remember the same it's
doubtful whether God can everuse a man or a woman until he
crushes them. You know what thatis? A bunch of intellectual
knowledge. I told this to Stevedo it. He was our interns couple
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of years ago. I said, Steve,you're nice. You're gifted.
You're a good man, you have asincere heart for the Lord. But
I'm gonna tell you something youhaven't been tried yet. I said,
you get ready. If you're goingto be used in the ministry,
God's gonna have to try youseverely. Well, he called me up
this week in the verge of tears.
He says, Kim, I've been thinkingabout what you've been saying,
I'm in serious, serious hurtright now. We got to pray for
Steve. But you know what it is.
Suffering prepares you thecomfort that you received, when
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you were down in the mud in theblood and the beer in that
place. God has a way of gettingyou up. And that very tasting of
that same hurt. And yet tastingof the comfort of God at that
time allows you to minister asit is no doubt abundantly clear
in my life. This is so clear tome. It's unbelievable. trials
that I have gone through when Ihave been so downhearted and so
(33:44):
discouraged, and athlete in thelast 11 years or even before
that, I'm telling you, the hurtseven from childhood, some of the
hurts of my family splitting upand all the things that I can
remember the pain, I want totell you something, God has
comforted me through that. Andas a result has used it so I can
minister to others. It's not allbad. Don't always look at it as
like, You got to get over it.
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Somehow God will use you becauseof it. That's what you got to
remember. And it's something sowonderful to know that he's
preparing you there is not onewasted heartache, there is not
one wasted ounce of trouble thatcomes into your life. Notice
this, I'd like you to turn toFirst Peter because I want you
to see these next couple ofverses. This is a little bit
normally we sit on one text, butthis this brings out this
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Philippians text very well go toFirst Peter, chapter one, I want
you to see something with me. Doyou know something else
suffering does? I skip down tomany suffering First Peter one
six and seven suffering provesthat your faith is genuine. Did
you know that? Hey, do youbelieve in Jesus? Yes. How do
you know? Well, you know one ofthe ways you know when you're in
(34:48):
the middle of a difficult timeand in the person that gets mad.
And by the way, it's alright toget mad as long as you don't go
overboard. You get mad and yousay God why is this happening?
The Psalmist did that but justthat you always keep yourself in
check. You don't ever go towhere you condemned God or
anything. You say, Why is thishappening to hurt so bad? Look
what the Bible says, verse six,it says, In this you greatly
(35:12):
rejoice, though now for a littlewhile, you may have had to
suffer grief and all kinds oftrials. These have come purpose
notice the purpose. These havecome what various trials have
come, so that your faith ofgreater worth than gold which
parishes even though refined byfire may be proved genuine, and
(35:32):
they result in praise, glory andhonor. When Jesus Christ is
revealed. Notice it may beproved genuine, you know what
happens? Listen, Jesus said thesoil went forth. So here he is
going on casting the seed up,throws the cedar, there was the
seed out, throws the seed out,throws the seat up, for kinds of
places they land. And guess whatonly one produced fruit. Some of
the soil sprang up quick and thesun dried out. Some came up in
(35:54):
the trials of life bringing upsome difficulties and suffering,
you know what happens? sufferingand difficulty proves whether or
not you're really a Christian?
That's right, Your faith isproof genuine, First Peter, one,
six and seven. When you gothrough those difficulties, it's
not that you have to be totallysuccessful. And they go like
this, you know, like someterrible traumatic news coming.
Oh, this is so great record. I'mso happy. That's not what I
mean. But I mean, as thesetroubles come into your life,
(36:18):
you say, God, I trust yoursovereign hand. You have got a
reason for this. And though ithurts me deeply, and though I
really wish I could have my wayand though so badly, I want to
have what seems to be a normalrequest. Couldn't I have this I
want you to know nonetheless,that you know what's best. I
will trust you like Jobe said,Though He slay me yet well, I
praise him. What kills me I'llstick faithful to Him. Suffering
(36:41):
also notice the next part ofthat same verse, suffering also
prepares your faith so that atthe Bema Seat judgment, it will
result in praise, glory andhonor. Look what it says there
in verse seven. These have comeso that your faith of greater
worth than gold which parisheseven though refined by fire,
maybe prove genuine and nowthat's that's the first point
(37:05):
maybe Virginia we know it's thesecond boy and they result in
praise, glory and honor whenJesus Christ is revealed, you
know the song about you see,friends remember something I've
said it before, but remembersomething. All theology goes
astray when you try to makeheaven come to earth now. All
these people are promising allthese things. Now that's wrong.
Heaven isn't heaven until youget to heaven. And praise glory
(37:27):
and honor suffering now preparesyou so that the Bema Seat
judgment when God evaluates yourlife, the suffering now will
bring praise, glory and honor ifyou know what, all through
Scripture, please get this. Goduses suffering and affliction as
a prelude to exaltation. Thetheme of suffering and glory is
prevalent in the scriptures. Gowith me to Romans eight. And
(37:49):
look at the verse 18. This isthe last one next to last verse,
we're gonna look at Romanseight. And we will need a verse
18. While you're turning there,I want to read you something for
First Peter for 13. It says,Dear friends, do not be
surprised at the painful trialyou are suffering as though
something strange were happeningto you. But rejoice that you
participate in the sufferings ofChrist so that you may be
(38:11):
overjoyed when his glory isrevealed. Now look at Romans
818. Look what it says. Romans818 says this, I consider that
our present sufferings are notworth comparing with the glory
that will be revealed in us. TheApostle says this look, the
(38:33):
trouble that you have now isthere for a purpose. You can't
even compare. There is a justGod, listen, people have talked
about about you, somebody'sripped you off. You know what
the Bible's clear about there isnot the one word that's come out
of someone's mouth that theywon't have to give an answer
for. And the hurt that you'vebeen with someone who's
(38:56):
slandered your name, or thetrouble you've had with somebody
has ripped you off, or somebodydid something so that you've had
some big financial trouble or,or, or that. Whatever it could
be, I don't need to imagine it.
You can imagine it I'm sure. Butwhatever it is, the point here
is this. If you hang on and liveby faith, and trust God and live
(39:16):
for him, there is going to bereward in heaven. And you can be
sure that you won't beoverlooked. You're not gonna be
sent up there after years ofsuffering and then God say, oh,
yeah, who are you again? I don'tthink you're on this list. Here.
We're Oh, yeah. John, Jamie,okay, okay, well, we'll we'll
put something together for youhere. That's not the way it's
gonna be in heaven. There'sgonna be a great reward there
for the person that has gonethrough the sufferings and
(39:38):
afflictions and realize it's ait's a prelude. You see this in
the life of Christ. You see thelife of Christ, you see the life
of a believer, and you see ithere in the scriptures.
You see, when the Bible saysthis trust in the Lord with all
(40:00):
thine heart and lean not to yourown understanding. Please don't
try to always figure that youcan figure it out rationally,
you may neverwant to close by reading your
passage out of revelation 21. Ifyou can meet me there, you can
read it with me otherwise, I'llread it to you. Revelation 21
(40:20):
Because it says verse, verse,one of revelation 21, then I saw
a new heaven, and a new earth,for the first heaven and the
first earth had passed away. Andthere was no longer any See, I
saw the holy city of the NewJerusalem coming down out of
(40:41):
heaven from God prepared as abride beautifully dressed for
her husband. This is heavenfriends, look at this, verse
three. And I heard a loud voicefrom the throne saying, now the
dwelling of God is with men, andhe will live with them. They
will be his people. And Godhimself will be with them and be
(41:04):
their God. Verse four, He willwipe every tear from their eye.
They will be no more death, ormourning, or crying, or pain. Or
the old order of things haspassed away. Please understand
(41:25):
something. A balanced view ofChristian doctrine tells you
this. Yes, there is joy. Yes,there is happiness. Yes, there
is peace. But there is alsotrouble and difficulty and
trials. And those two will be apart of our life in an
(41:46):
unmistakable way, until we getto heaven. And then there'll be
a day when there'll be no more,there will no longer be that
kind of problems. And so theApostle Paul says, Do you
through the book of Philippianstoday, hey, you believe in him,
it's the book of joy. Also, hangin there and read. Remember to
(42:06):
live by faith in the midst ofyour suffering in the midst of
your agony in the midst of yourtrouble. Let's pray.
Thank you, Father. For thewonderful insight into everyday
(42:31):
life that we receive fromPhilippians 120 through 30 and
many other scriptures. Help usto buy faith to understand it's
for some reason, it's hard forus to understand that.
sufferings are granted to us asa loving gift from your hand to
help us mature. Even theagonizing struggles that we have
(42:56):
in our life cause father, us tobe humble people that submit to
your will with faith that we cancompletely trust that you know
what you're doing. In Jesus namewe pray, Amen.
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