Finding Purpose in Pain | Dee Casper

wrong service i tell you what that was that was a real blessing so thank you uh thomas and michael moriga for leading us in that i tell you that was something else and so that's just a little foretaste of some of the worship that we're going to be having here day after day week after week and month after month and so we are definitely excited so thank you again gentlemen for leading us in that uh you know you guys are looking more and more oriented each time i see you so we had we wednesday thursday and now uh today you are you're you are looking definitely oriented and so i want to thank you for uh your attention to the details of our schedule and for showing up on time uh that's that's just greatly appreciated how many of you have been really challenged encouraged edified and blessed as you've been listening to pastor d casper here all right some of them are raising a couple of hands here i think if they had another hand they would probably raise it and so we are just so thankful that he has set time aside in his schedule in order to be here with us for this introduction to our school year and you know when we when we set the pace for the introduction that kind of creates the foundation also for the rest of the term and so again we just want to express our gratitude to him and his team there at core a discipleship and evangelism program that he's going to tell you a little bit more about when he comes out here in just a moment and so actually without any further ado we want to invite uh pastor d casper to come on out and he'll lead us in an opening prayer and share a little bit more about his ministry called core and again thank you uh brother d for being here with us may the lord richly bless you your ministry and whatever you're doing there at core for his name's honor and glory good evening everyone oh it's loud man thomas had this carrot juice today huh wow or ginseng whatever your adventist energy source may be all right thank you for that it was a rousing song service that was a blessing uh if every song service was like that people would sing and we would be engaging in worship but you need a you need a spark plug under the hood there to get it going so thank you for that um we have a little video i want to show you guys i wanted to wait until most people were here uh over the course of the weekend um in fact can we just do that tomorrow morning because it looks like we're still kind of trickling in so we'll show that tomorrow morning we can skip that part um and then we'll go through our process here and then if i can just have access to slides then i'll be uh we'll just roll with that because i'm waiting on that part but uh anyway thank you for being here i mean not like you had a choice and stuff but thank you for inviting me to be here and this is a blessing to talk about the topic of mental health talking about our view of god and our view of god's view of us we're going to address another topic this evening that i think is relevant and then we'll go into some of that but i will just say briefly um that i do have the privilege of of giving you greetings from the pennsylvania conference and i'm helping to run a discipleship and evangelism training program for young adults just like you 18 to 35 ish age range and if you'd like to learn more about how to be a disciple of jesus we have theology classes yes but we also have a lot of uh discipleship components you're learning how to do bible studies and canvassing and outreach foreign missions things along those lines we've got postcards that look just like this on the table over there and so if you just want to fill if you just want to take one of these with you there's stickers and stuff too feel free to do that we'll talk more about this tomorrow morning when there's more people present so you have to hear it twice all the information is there and the other thing is this we've been talking about some heavy stuff this week is that is that kind of true yeah if you've got questions you can ask those questions anonymously there is a jar over on that table and some slips of paper i would strongly encourage you write down your questions fold that paper put it in the jar because tomorrow morning for sabbath school it's a q a and if you raise your hand and ask questions uh people hear those questions they see your face when you ask those questions so that's totally fine with me but if it's not fine with you then write down your questions beforehand so that we can answer them it can be anonymous you have to worry about what people may think you can just ask the questions swing for the fences doesn't matter to me put them in that jar we'll talk about those tomorrow morning for sabbath school okay so how awesome and engaging and so forth sabbath school will be is largely dependent upon your participation so if you put questions in that jar it'll make my job a lot easier otherwise i'll just stare at you awkwardly for the entire period of sabbath school and i don't really think that's what you're going to be intending to do okay so that's that's that part so let's start with the word of prayer and then we'll begin this evening's message finding purpose in pain let's pray sweet jesus thank you for loving us for speaking to us over the course of this week lord you have exceeded my own personal expectations i thank you for an engaging group here and i just pray as we talk this evening lord that you would minister to us many of us have gone through painful and difficult circumstances at different stages of our life some of us as we speak and i'm asking that you would speak to us through your word and help us to make sense of why these things are happening this is our plea tonight lord and we ask this in jesus name amen finding purpose in pain one last announcement that i forgot to mention earlier some of the stuff that i was wanting to share that i would normally share i did already this summer at convocation many of you are out canvassing or doing other things i would strongly encourage you just go back to the heartland youtube channel go through the messages on the three angels messages um and if you missed some of this week you can watch those messages as well to kind of catch up on a big picture because the whole goal of any interaction i'm going to have with this campus is to help us see ourselves and god and his church in a healthier life than maybe we currently do and those messages are meant to do that to see jesus at the heart of the three angels messages uh last uh in july and then walking through the stuff this week so if you missed any of those messages either a convocation or that you can watch them just on the youtube channel okay so if the pain and the heartbreak and disappointment that you've gone through maybe in recent months or just in life in general have led you to have negative beliefs about yourself about life or god or whether it's even worth trying to hope anymore i'm hoping that this evening's message will be helpful for you to address these very things so we're told this in romans chapter 15 and verse 13 now may the god of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing and that you may abound in hope by the power of the holy spirit now how is god addressed here what title is given to him he's the god of hope notice he's not a god who happens to possess a small measure of hope he's the very source of hope which means that no matter what you're going through he not only has enough to meet your need but to exceed your need and meet the needs of the entire world which is such good news paul doesn't say that may the god who happens to you know sometimes give us hope when we need it he doesn't use that title and i think it's super super important for us to see that then in romans chapter 5 and verse 5 paul again says now hope does not disappoint because the love of god has been poured out in our hearts by the holy spirit who was given to us so the holy spirit is called the comforter for a reason and my encouragement to us this week is to let him pour god's healing love into your life and to allow hope to grow in your experience once again we've gone through difficult circumstances we've gone through things that have kind of just knocked us down and we wonder is it even worth trying to hope anymore dr renee brown i talked about that this summer dr renee brown a specialist in shame she has this statement that just says stuck with me ever since i heard it she says it's easier to live disappointed than to be disappointed it's easier to live in a constant state of disappointment and not hope for things to get better than to get your hopes up and get gunned down by the things of life and many of us as christians are living in that type of a context we're living in a continual state of disappointment and it's hard for us to get our hopes up again because the last time we did that we got hurt life happened we got kicked while we were down and so my encouragement to us is to keep trusting that god is able to pick you back up and to strengthen you we're told this in isaiah 40 and verse 31 but those who wait in the lord shall renew their strength they shall mount up with wings as eagles they shall run and not be weary they shall walk and not faint a little bit before that verse it says that even the youth shall grow weary and faint right but god is able to strengthen us and pick us back up jesus warned his disciples in john chapter 16 and verse 33 that in this world you will have tribulation not you might you're going to have it but then he said to be of good cheer why because i've overcome the world and young people if god has overcome the world i assure you he's overcome whatever it is that you're dealing with in the here and now and whatever's gone on in the course of your life he's bigger than that he can absolutely handle it so he gave them a very specific warning a few verses earlier um then john chapter 16 or verse 33 about the heartbreak and disappointment and pain that was going to come their way at his betrayal and death and so forth and he used a very interesting analogy uh regarding his purpose and eventual end this is in john chapter 16 beginning in verse 20. he says most assuredly i say to you that you will weep and lament and you will be sorrowful but your sorrow will be turned into joy so you're going to go through something incredibly painful here shortly but your sorrow will be turned into joy and then he uses this analogy he says a woman when she's in labor has sorrow because her hour has come any ladies want to testify to that who know that experience but as soon as she's given birth to the child she no longer remembers the anguish for joy that a human being has been brought into the world it's very interesting that jesus and telling the disciples of the pain that you're about to go through the analogy he uses is one of childbirth and i think there's some reasons for that but i want to finish it out here in verse 22 he says therefore you now have sorrow but i will see you again and your heart will rejoice and your joy no one can take from you i'm so thankful for this but i think a lesson that we can take from this text is that pain when it's surrendered to god can be directional in nature just like the pain that comes in childbirth that it's not arbitrary that it's not capricious that these things happen in our lives that it's directional it's leading to something that is going to make sense and we will forget what it costs to get to where it is that we're being led now we're not saying that god signs up and sets up all these horrible difficult circumstances in our lives but what we are saying is god is able to redeem them and make something beautiful even out of those moments are you with me and so what he's saying is that pain that's permitted to come into your experience is directional in nature it's bringing us somewhere and i believe that on the other end of our painful experiences god can help us to forget all the excruciating details of how hard it was and to be able to appreciate that this was allowed to take place for us to receive what we need to receive or to become who we need to become that there's purpose in the pain that's allowed to come our way and i believe that god can redeem our pain for good and this is what romans chapter 8 and verse 28 is talking about right that uh romans chapter 8 and verse 28 went for a run today my brain is super oxygenate oxygenated but i'm also tired and it's not working as it was roman chapter 8 verse 28 and we know that all things work together for good to those who love god and to those who are called according to his purpose so i think that's what's being alluded to here and that he is what we find and what we need in those dark moments right you don't really know how much you need god until you come into circumstances where you need god right and that's one of the reasons why these things are permitted to remind us of the fact that you're not your own right that there is a bigger purpose in this life i love this promise in proverbs chapter 13 and verse 12. it says that hope deferred makes the heart sick anyone can testify to that when you go through difficult waiting seasons hope deferred makes the heart sick but when the desire comes it is a tree of life a gift that keeps on giving i believe that god is asking us to surrender that pain and that fear to hope anymore and to trust that what's on the other side of this can actually bring us new life but god also redeems our pain by using what we learn in the comfort that we find in him to help others this is a beautiful beautiful text go to second corinthians chapter one this has just been such a rich blessing to me second corinthians chapter one i hope just some of that blessing i received from this text will carry through here second corinthians chapter 1 this is what it says blessed be the lord god and father of our lord jesus christ the father of mercies and then what title does it give god in this verse the god of all comfort what was he called in romans chapter 13 and verse 15 do you remember or 15 13 the god of hope okay now he's referred to as the god of all comfort who comforts us in all our tribulation so how often will god comfort us in our tribulations in every single one of them that and here's why that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by god so we go through difficult circumstances but the promise is that god will comfort us in those circumstances but not just for your sake god will comfort you in these difficult circumstances yes for you but not only for you so he won't just remember he's not just a god who happens to possess some levels of comfort he will give you more comfort than you need so that that overflow from your experience can bless someone else who's going through difficulties and trials and i love this that nothing is wasted with the kingdom of heaven we talked about this in the silence of god a couple nights ago paul continues in verse 5 for as the sufferings of christ abound in us so are consolations the same greek word comfort also abounds through christ now if we are afflicted it's for your consolation do you hear what he just said there if we go through hardship it's actually going to be for your benefit for your consolation but he doesn't stop there what does he say next and salvation did you realize that one of the reasons why we're permitted to go through challenges is not just so that we can see how faithful god is to comfort and help us but also to comfort others yes but it will even be the means through which someone else can be saved that's what paul's saying here that nothing is wasted with the kingdom of heaven then he says which is effective for enduring the same sufferings which we also suffer so that comfort that we receive and that we share with you will also help you to get through this circumstance that you're going through and then he says it again or if we are comforted it's for your consolation against same greek word and a second time he says and salvation and our hope for you is steadfast there is no doubt because we know that as you are partakers of the sufferings so you also will partake of the consolation he is absolutely sure the fact that whatever you're going through right now that god is going to comfort you and see you through this and how does he know that because when i've gone through difficulties and trials god was faithful to comfort me and he used the comfort he gave me to also comfort you so i'm sure the fact that if you're suffering as i'm suffering then god is going to comfort you in the same way he's comforting me did you know that you don't have to be afraid when you see people suffering many times we feel powerless we don't know what to say we don't know what to do but we can take consolation of the fact that there is a god of comfort who wants to comfort them and if he's allowed us to see the need he can use us to be a blessing to them do you see that you don't have to be afraid in that sense yes you have nothing to offer them but god has everything to offer them and he wants to use you to do it do you see that such a blessing 10 times the word comfort is used here and this is so encouraging to me because that when we go through tribulation and distress and trials and heartbreak there's a god of comfort available to us who's able to redeem this pain and allow it to be used to comfort somebody else in their pain which implies by the way that god sees in you the ability to make it through this struggle in the first place and that he believes in your ability to use the purpose and the healing that you find to bless and help someone else again god believes in you which is why that we're able to promote why he permits us to go through certain trials and circumstances because he knows in his ability to take care of you and he believes in your ability to be used to help other people i love this if we allow him to it's a big if statement there right then go to chapter three or sorry chapter two beginning in verse three now this is a kind of an interesting chapter uh it has a it has a context so corinth was a very carnal place a very very carnal place there was this idea platonic dualism was already kind of rampant at this stage there was this idea basically that it doesn't really matter what you do with your body because there's the soul and then there's the body right so you literally can do whatever you want with your body it doesn't really matter because the spiritual part of you is all that really matters and this leads to a lot of problems right they would have temple prostitutes and other things that are very very not good right so they have this statement you know the body for food and the food for body or the stomach for food and the food and so forth it was just basically this enticing statement to come and do you know inappropriate things in worship services so you had people being converted from that form of worship into the christian church and you know if you've met people that have different religious backgrounds many times their their experience can begin in kind of a synchro syncretistic fashion that's not a proper word but syncretism generally is part of their process right they're kind of keeping some of what they had while figuring out what the new thing is like it was causing problems and so paul said to the church in first corinthians it's reported among you that it's reported that among you there's sexual morality that's taking place that doesn't even happen amongst the gentiles and then he says a man has his own father's wife now i'll let you do the math it's not good right it's really not good best case scenario it's a stepmom worst case scenario it's who you think it is it's not it's not a good situation and paul says you got to deal with this you can't let this go on and he says that church discipline has to be administered so they do administer church discipline they disfellowship this individual and now you get to second corinthians chapter two and paul picks up on that scenario okay it's kind of ugly i'm sorry for that but you need the context verse 3 chapter 2 2nd corinthians verse 3 and i wrote this very thing to you les when i came i should have sorrow over those whom i ought to have joy having confidence in you all that my joy is the joy of you all and then he says for out of much affliction or anguish or tribulation and anguish of heart i wrote to you and with many tears and then he says not that you should be grieved but that you might know the love which i have so abundantly for you is implying here that there's also pain we can go through in discipline okay we talked about the pain that happens in life in general but in chapter two we also see that there's pain that we can go through while being disciplined and paul says the only reason why this had to happen was so that you could see my love for you i didn't want to say hard and difficult things to you but it was the only way i knew to communicate my love for you which is an important principle that as we're disciplining we want people to recognize it's out of our love for them not out of our disapproval or displeasure it's super important right because how you receive it as a teaching tool matters in how it's delivered right and so in this circumstance and paul talks about this later in this chapter so i'll just keep reading but if anyone is cause grieved he has not grieved me but all of you to some extent not to be too severe but then he says this punishment which was inflicted by the majority is sufficient for such a man you went that's enough and then he says so that on the contrary you ought rather to forgive and then what does he say oh you're just watching me what if i'm not reading the verses go to verse 7 so that on the contrary you ought rather to forgive and do what comfort him that word comfort shows up again lest perhaps such a one be swallowed up with too much sorrow did you know that we could administer discipline in ways that causes people to be overwhelmed with too much sorrow we can do that even in the church even a religious context religious homes and so forth and so he says unless they be overwhelmed too much sorrow therefore i urge you verse 8 to reaffirm your love to him for to this end i also wrote that i might put you to the test whether you were obedient in all things now whom you forgive anything i also forgive for if indeed i've forgiven anything i've forgiven that one for your sakes in the presence of christ and then he says something interesting in verse 11 lest satan should take advantage of us for we are not ignorant of his devices now there's more than one application for that last verse but one of those applications is that it's possible to be used by satan as the church and as christians in administering discipline and he says don't go too far because it's painful now paul says it was painful for me to discipline you and i know it was painful for the individual but don't go too far right there need to be boundaries here and i appreciate the way that this is laid out here because there can be pain that we experience and discipline but god is quick to ensure that we see the purpose for it and that we find comfort in his forgiveness as well hebrews 12 tells us that if we endure chastening that that means that god deals with us as with sons for our prophet and that we may be partakers of his holiness and then in hebrews 12 11 it says now no chastening or discipline seems to be joyful for the present but painful nevertheless afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who've been trained by it so it can lead to holiness and fruit for righteousness and even lead us to find comfort in his forgiveness while changing course and that's what he wants to take place this is what he's longing for we just want to kind of explain the premise of pain that can happen in discipline now go to chapter 7. yeah chapter 7 beginning of verse 2. and i say that i'm going to start in chapter 6 and verse 11. just kidding then i'll come back over there because he says this in verse 11 to chapter 6 oh corinthians we have spoken openly to you our heart is wide open you are not restricted by us but you're restricted by your own affections and now in return for the same i speak as to children you also be open our hearts are wide open before you don't close your heart off to me just because you've had to receive discipline i only did that because i loved you then go to chapter seven and verse two open your hearts to us we have wronged no one we've corrupted no one we've cheated no one and i do not say this to condemn for i have said before that you are in our hearts to die together and to live together and great is my boldness of speech towards you and great is my boasting on your behalf and then he says i am filled with comfort and i'm exceedingly joyful in all our tribulation where's he quoting from there chapter one right we will glory in our tribulations knowing that if you're suffering the same tribulation you'll also receive the comfort that we received he's picking up on the same theme verse five for if indeed when we came to macedonia our bodies had no rest but we were troubled in every side outside where conflicts inside were fears nevertheless god who does what who comforts the downcast what did he do for him comforted us by the coming of titus and not only by his coming but also by the consolation same greek word with which he was comforted in you and when he told us of your earnest desire your mourning your zeal for me so i rejoice even more for even if i made you sorry with my letter i do not regret it though i did regret it for i perceived that the same epistle made you sorry though only for a while now i rejoice not that you were made sorry but that your sorrow led to repentance it was out of my love for you my desire for you to be connected with god and not let these things keep going on that i had to do this and i'm thankful that it bore proper fruit that it led you to repentance for you were made sorry sorry in a godly manner that you might suffer lost from us and nothing for godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation not to be regretted the king james says not to be repented of did you know that there is a form of repentance that does need to be repented of and he basically lays out the two forms of grief here right there or of repentance there's worldly sorrow let's just not talk about this anymore i'm uncomfortable right i don't want to get a whoopin and then there's godly sorrow that truly leads to repentance and into changing of course paul's laying out the difference here between these two but the sorrow of the world produces death for observe this very thing that you sorrowed in a godly manner and what diligence it produced in you what clearing of yourselves what indignation what fear what vehement desire what zeal what vindication in all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter therefore although i wrote to you i did not do it for the sake of him who had done the wrong nor for the sake of him who suffered wrong but again that our care for you in the sight of god might appear to you the only reason i had to say these painful difficult things is so that you could see my love and my care for you then it says therefore we have been comforted and your comfort this is the same principle second corinthians 1 isn't it that when you receive comfort we can be comforted so because they comforted titus and ministered to titus that also comforted ministered to paul and we rejoice exceedingly more for the joy of titus because his spirit has been refreshed by you all don't you love this it's a really really helpful principle this idea of god longing to comfort us finding purpose in the pain of life and even the pain of discipline that we incur by god or maybe by the church or by christians in general or so forth right now i want to share some examples of jesus helping people who are in pain then we'll look at a story in the old testament that i think is super relevant so i want to look real quickly at the widow who lost her son go to luke chapter 7. again we're looking this idea of finding purpose in pain we've looked at the pain of life the pain of discipline now let's look at how jesus ministered to people in pain luke chapter 7 beginning in verse 11. this text actually is what led to me going to bible college luke chapter 7 verse 11. now it happened the day after that he went into a city called nain and many of his disciples were with them in a large crowd and when he came near the gate of the city behold a dead man was being carried out the only son of his mother which is heartbreaking isn't it the only person who can take care of her is now gone you well maybe and then there's another statement that says for she was a widow so now it's abundantly clear there is no resource for her there is no support system for her she's completely on her own and a large crowd from the city was with her and when the lord saw her what did he do he had compassion on her he felt her pain and said to her do not weep then he came and touched the open coffin and those who carried him stood still and he said young man i say to you arise so he who was dead sat up and began to speak and he presented him to his mother then fear came upon all and they glorified god saying a great prophet is a risen among us god has visited his people jesus ministering to the pain of somebody made it clear that god has visited his people and this report went throughout all judea and all the surrounding region here's the point jesus sees the pain that the woman's going through he's moved with compassion he feels her pain and then he does something about her pain and this is the way that he works with all of us he sees what you're going through he's moved and feels what you're going through and he's longing to do something about it he's the god of comfort who comforts us in our trials and i'm so thankful for this that when i don't understand what's going on i do understand who he is and in those painful moments that's enough it can be enough by god's grace right but i want to look at a familiar story from a different angle i want to look at the story of ruth and naomi go to the book of ruth i'm going to kind of summarize for time's sake but i saw some things here that were really really helpful for me and i hope they'll make sense to you all here joshua judges ruth those little hidden books so it's a story of ruth and naomi now after naomi loses her husband and her two sons she's totally devastated and for good reason right and her two sons had married moabite women so those women don't really necessarily need to stick around because she's a jew she's going to go back to israel eventually it's not really an ideal scenario for them to go back so she's just saying like look i'm pretty much alone alone like just go do your thing i get it don't worry about me don't get and she just just let me go do my thing and she pray but they say no no no we're going to go with you we'll go with you and she prays that the lord will deal kindly with her daughter-in-laws and that the lord may help them to find rest in chapter 1 verses 8 and 9. she says and go returning to our mother's house the lord deal kindly with you as you have dealt with the dead and with me the lord grant that you may find rest each in the house of her husband okay so she's she's hoping that god will bless them but listen to her experience she basically assumes that nothing good can happen to her she doesn't feel like she can have hope anymore in verse 12. turn back my daughter's go for i'm too old to have a husband and if i should say i have hope and what does that imply there is no hope if i should say i have hope if i should have a husband tonight and also should bear sons would you wait for them till you were grown would you restrain yourselves from having husbands no my daughters for it grieves me very much for your sakes that the hand of the lord has gone out against me she's in deep sorrow she's in deep bitterness in this moment and for whatever reason we sanitize this story and imply that naomi actually converts ruth but there is nothing about the narrative here that shows her being a good witness that would lead anybody to want to serve her god because the picture she's giving is god has cursed me god has been against me i've received bad things just move on with your life maybe god will bless you now if someone talked like that in your workplace and said god is blessed god has cursed me god has done this against me and has afflicted me by the way do you want to go to church with me this weekend what would you say and yet we say that naomi converted ruth i think the holy spirit converted ruth to use ruth to bring naomi back that's the way the narrative reads at least from what i'm seeing and we can hash that out later and have a theological wrestling match if you like but that's just what i seem to be seeing here she even says in verse 13 again that the hand of the lord is against her so her daughter-in-law won't leave her and she says your god will be my god but right now naomi isn't talking too favorably for god so why would she even say that like would you say i want your god to be my god whenever your god is cursing you but she says it she says your god will be my god and i'm going to go wherever you go you know only death will part us and interestingly enough the name ruth means companion or friend i won't leave you alone because remember she thinks she's going to be left alone and god gives her a gift he stirs the heart of ruth whose name means companion to be walking alongside her to comfort her by the way to help her and they're going to follow god together and god ends up using ruth mightily to inspire naomi's weak and faltering faith as the story goes on so she returns to her homeland and she tells her people don't call me naomi that means pleasant by the way call me mara which means bitter she's literally telling them i'm bitter i don't have a pleasant experience anymore i'm bitter life has been hard don't call me that anymore that's not me and that's not my story my story is one of bitterness at this stage for god has dealt very bitterly with me she says i went out full but i've come home empty why do you call me naomi seeing that the lord has testified against me and that the almighty has afflicted me now again we're just showing the story as it actually reads the story has a happy ending praise god for that but the point is there's real pain this woman's going through and she's verbalizing it she's trying to figure out what to do with it and at this stage she doesn't have the strength to get out of this mess we talked about this this morning they cannot restore themselves right and she's in a situation where they may not be able to see anything good in store for themselves but a friend whom they can see they cannot grasp the eternal ella white said in the last quote that we read but a friend whom they can see coming to them in christ's dead can be a connecting link that fastens their trembling faith upon god and then she said oh this is a blessed work and that's the work that ruth does for naomi in this story so when word gets to boaz and ruth isn't understanding why he's favoring her he replies it's been fully reported to me all that you've done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband and how you've left your father and mother and the land of your birth and have come to a people whom you did not know before and then he says the lord repay your work and a full reward be given you by the lord god of israel under whose wings you've come for refuge this was a faith venture for her and what he's telling her is i'm the answer to that prayer i'll take care of you you were willing to take care of your mother-in-law i'm willing to take care of you stay here a while follow the people who are gleaning my field take any water you need to rest when you need to you're under my care now now this sparks hope into naomi's experience in verse 20 of chapter two i believe yeah chapter two she says blessed be he of the lord who has not forsaken his kindness to the living and the dead and naomi said to her this man is a relation of ours one of our close relatives and the amazing thing is when the narrative closes out when god brings ruth a child it's referred to as naomi's child and it brings her great joy and this testimony has inspired faith in who knows how many people over the centuries and it even impacts the genealogy of christ the greatest comforter but even interesting the thing that comes out of this you know what the name of that child is it's obed and you know what that means servant a servant of the lord what comes out of this painful experience is service for the lord and the genealogy of the messiah isn't this amazing it's a type of what we're talking about this evening that god can bring purpose out of our pain and even service that leads to people's salvation that's what paul was talking about in second corinthians chapter one chapter seven chapter two and so forth yeah finding purpose in pain so when we're hurting and losing faith it's just like god to send us people to remind us where we came from and where our home truly is and i love him for that and you can do that for the people around you who are hurting right now and embrace the people that god sends you if that's you today don't reject people who are trying to comfort you let yourself be comforted some of us think i don't deserve this i want to sit here for a while in the dust in the ashes and there's a season for that certainly the best thing job's friends did for him was to sit down and be quiet and just grieve with them so once they opened their mouths they started to cause problems right they were fixers you ever met a fixer in your day maybe you've been a fixer maybe you're a recovering fixer by god's grace so in this circumstance it's important that we let ourselves be comforted because the thing is you're cutting off the person who's intended to comfort from the blessing god wants to give them let alone the fact that you're cutting yourself off from the blessing that he wants to give you god longs to comfort you he's the god of comfort but if you wall yourself off and shut down you're not going to receive it are you understanding and that's not god's will for your life tonight i assure you of that now look at second corinthians chapter four therefore we do not lose heart even though our outward man is perishing yet the inward man is being renewed day by day for our light affliction which is but for a moment is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory while we do not look at the things which are seen but of the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporary but the things which are not seen are eternal paul again equates the struggles of this life as something that's directional that's bringing forth an even greater amount of glory we talked about this in the silence of god right that with mary martha and lazarus the fact that he waited he was there was a lot of glory that would come out of the circumstance the sickness is not unto death but that god may be glorified jesus said we saw it in john the baptist we saw it in jesus own life so there is direction there is purpose behind the pain that's permitted to come into our experience and we need to see that because if we just think it's arbitrary or god's just being capricious or indifferent to our suffering it's very difficult to allow him to be the god of comfort that he's trying to be for you in those moments are you understanding and so he's inviting you to take a look behind the veil and realize he's doing something bigger than maybe you saw initially my friend wrote this beautiful post a while back i want to share this with you on their own experience on working through pain they said honestly i needed a good beating and stay with me they say i never thought i'd look back in the last few years and be thankful for them i never thought i'd be grateful for the beating of life i've always wanted to escape pain as every human does and i think like many conscientious people i immediately equated pain or hardship in my life to god's disapproval of me i hope you heard that many of us respond in the same way not knowing the principles that we just talked about earlier this evening but we equate right the pain or hardship and life to god's disapproval of me his displeasure or his punishment for not being well perfect i guess but looking back i realized that it wasn't punishment at all it wasn't his displeasure and truly it really wasn't hardship it was life and it was life with god and life with god means yes ups and downs but it also means that he takes the downs and he flings them so high that the normal ups are nothing compared to this the downs now give context to the ups and you can learn to thank god for both i've learned that it's best to not try and escape pain but to embrace it to not push it away but to pull it into your very heart and soul and to face it nobly and with courage and to learn that in a sinful world pain becomes an unwanted and yet an accepted companion a.t jones in his 1893 general conference sermons talks about this in one of his messages where he basically says to refer to these difficult trials where he quotes peter do not think it's strange this this fiery trial which is to try you and the equation says we should refer to these trials as old friends sounds kind of crazy doesn't it but with a mustache that good he has to be telling the truth amen i'm just kidding uh but it is a really good mustache but no the point that he's making here is that those moments of pain and difficulty are those vehicles that throw us into the embracing arms of jesus and so we can refer to these trials as old friends because though they're difficult sometimes they're pointing us in a direction where it's safe into the comforting arms of jesus and so instead of running away i open my arms to the one true companion of this life pain and i embrace the pain of who i am with all the disappointments because it fuels me to become better i embrace the pain of heartbreak because it leaves a void that god is eager to fill i embrace the pain of failure because it's a stepping stone to success i embrace the pain of loss because it keeps my eyes off of this earth and i embrace the pain of discipline because it enables me to give up what i want now to have what i want most i'm not there yet they say but i hope one day this unwanted companion called pain will become to me a welcome companion and even a gift the gift that was so necessary to give a sinful world when love was vanquished from our hearts i hope one day to see pain for what it really is the path to joy the path to purpose and yes even the path to truly knowing god because again these things bring us back into the reminder that we desperately need someone in something outside of ourselves if you just had smooth sailing all the time and no difficulties it would be very easy to forget your need of god it's unfortunate that that's the case but that's how the narcissistic and selfish mind works as a result of the fall of man but one of the reasons why these things are permitted to linger these thorns in the flesh and these difficulties is to point us back to what we've always needed all along and he will never let us be in a circumstance that will be more than what he can comfort us in because he's the god of comfort right an ever flowing source that's not intimidated by our challenging circumstances we may be we may be overwhelmed but he's not and he's willing to bring everything and more so to the table that you will need in those painful moments to not just bless you but he will comfort you so that you will now be able to comfort someone who goes through something very similar with the same comfort that he gave you and it could even be that person's means of salvation we're told twice of second corinthians chapter one are you with me this evening guys i've had my own journey with this um i shared a little bit about my story when i was here for convocation this summer it's called convocation right okay i just want to make sure i didn't call it the wrong thing other people have different names for things and don't want to keep doing that so i've had my own story with this my own difficulty in my upbringing i talked about you know my family there was divorce early on and there was trauma my mom was beat up by her third husband and i was there right after it happened a lot of difficulties i didn't really go to school i just survived school as a kid i wasn't really engaged i was just checking out numbing pain all the time from a very early age it's a difficult upbringing for me a difficult experience and i started seeing a therapist about a year two years ago now i guess it was in 2019 uh around july it was a scary circumstance for me to actually be willing to go there um in fact i would have friends they would talk about seeing a therapist and my response was that's good for them that's good for them you ever been there like the things that would be good for you but of course you're not willing to go there so that's great for you i'm glad that you did that oh that's nice but you're not really willing to go there for yourself and so for me it's kind of a scary thought this whole public figure thing is really weird i'm like a white boy from the midwest why do people in africa and the philippines know who i am i have no idea but it's just it's a strange circumstance for me that kind of makes me uncomfortable i don't really know how to navigate it and it kind of scared me when i realized that this is the next step that i need to take but where do i go right because like i'm someone shared something with me a while back that even tow trucks need tow trucks you know you're always the person who's giving and doing for other people and counseling them but where do you go and if you're in public ministry like what if i mean i'm not an ax murderer or anything but i got my stuff we all got our stuff and like i'd prefer that my stuff remained my stuff and not oh did you hear but you know what i mean like it's just it's it was scary for me i didn't know what to do but i got a referral from a friend who was seeing someone a non-adventist which is helpful a christian but a non-adventist and that kind of was was helpful to take some that burden away from me and as i as i entered in this this process of going through therapy it has radically changed the trajectory of my life it has been so helpful because many times we don't know how to process our own stuff right we don't know how we can say oh i can just pray and whatever and i mean there's some truth to that but like that's like saying well i can just pray and my broken arm's gonna fix itself like we don't follow our logic we just don't want to face our stuff many times those statements are birthed out of our discomfort with acknowledging that we even have stuff it sounds pious but it's really fig leaves a piety and so i was in a situation where i realized i need to do this it's been such a blessing to me but there were different seasons where i had to face some difficult times in my life and it was hard it was painful and when those feelings come back up my temptation is to run away to dissociate to check out from reality and my therapist shared something with it with me that was life-changing he said the only way to deal with pain is to feel it and it was a really really like eye-opening experience for me now he's not saying run into painful circumstances and and find as much as you can get but the point is running from it isn't going to solve it leaning into it and finding out what it's telling you and how to deal with it can be helpful feeling and dealing so i had to work through that process and it was scary for me i'd go through these different seasons where like i'd be growing and working through stuff and i would just check out it was just too hard but as i've worked through this i've come to realize he's absolutely right that the only true way to deal with pain is to let yourself feel it process it and give it to god not to run from it running from pain doesn't cause the problem it delays its return it's going to come back it knows where you live because it's you know a part of you it lives with you and when we don't deal with it when we don't process it when we don't release it it just keeps showing up at the most inopportune times and you find yourself having difficult interactions with people and you don't know why you find yourself lashing out you find yourself being afraid of intimacy in relationships you find yourself really really scared of conflict you find yourself in situations where you don't want to be fully known and fully loved because you don't think you deserve to be fully known and fully loved by god or by anybody else all of this comes from our unresolved stuff that we're not willing to process to feel and deal and release to him and it gets us in trouble and so i just i want to implore with you this evening and implore you this evening to ask god what is it that i'm running from what is it that i've not been willing to face and what is it that you're trying to teach me through these painful experiences of my life and would you show me how to release that in a healthy way so that i can be free and receive the comfort that you long to give me and lord i'm pledging to you this evening that i'm not just going to take that comfort for myself i'm going to share that comfort with someone else and would you use it to be their means of salvation when we start to walk through life no longer being afraid of what's happened what people may think or so forth there's a freedom there guys i'm happier and in a better place than i have ever been in my life and it came from doing this difficult and painful work no matter what has happened in your experience god has enough comfort for you he has even more than you need and whatever has come into your life that has robbed you of hope the good news is there's a god of hope who's happy to serve you and to give you what you need he's also referred to as a god of joy god of peace god of love it's an interesting study if you just look up god of and all the things that are used in the new testament he literally is willing to be the god of whatever you need him to be amen but will you come and will you let him into those spaces that you haven't let anybody in since that day happened whatever that was he's safe i hope you're seeing that this week if there's anybody who's safe to invite into that space it's jesus who's acquainted with our grief in fact we'll have that here in our text here hebrews chapter 5 verse 8 even jesus though he was a son he learned obedience by the things which he suffered even the painful experiences of jesus's life were directional and they were leading him to something that was helpful in his experience listen to this desire of ages to all who are reaching out to feel the guiding hand of god we read this a couple nights ago the moment of greatest discouragement is the time when divine help is nearest from every temptation and every trial he will bring them forth with firmer faith and a richer experience and they will look back with thankfulness upon the darkest hour of their way god is able to redeem our pain and i'm coming to find that we're going to talk about vulnerability tomorrow but when we learn how to use vulnerability in a healthy and proper way the telling of your story can set other people free and i had no idea this would happen this wasn't my intention in the direction that my ministry would go but in doing so i get so many testimonies from people who by hearing my story and what i went through what god did for me it's helping them find healing and freedom which only further convinces me that paul wasn't lying in second corinthians 1 that the comfort he gives you in your darkest seasons of life can be used to comfort other people in their darkest seasons of life god is in the business of making things better than when he found them in the first place that's what he does guys he's in the process he's in the business of redemption and reconciliation but will you let him be david said in psalm 35 that when god delivered him from his adversity that he would testify of god's goodness before the assembly god i have a need and i need you to meet this need and i'm pledging to you today before you even deliver the goods that when you do keep your word to me i will testify to the brethren what you've done in my life this is what a christian's experience should look like this is one of the reasons why the righteous are permitted to suffer because they can bring glory to god through the trial in the victory that god affords and the wicked will never do that there's a great book on this it's written by dr dan allender called to be told it's a really really helpful book and learning how to work through and process your own story he's a therapist and runs like a like a seminary up in seattle for like pastors and therapists together but has this made sense this evening this idea of finding purpose and pain does this make sense this evening yes or no that god is in the business of redeeming our pain of bringing comfort but will you let him will you let down your walls will you let down the gates will you drain the moat and get rid of the alligators and sharks will you let him into the fortress that you have built and allow him to do what he's so good at doing heal the brokenhearted to set the captives free to set at liberty those who are in bonds that's what jesus came to do you know that right yes when jesus was asked to speak in a church service he was handed the scroll of isaiah it wasn't a book like you and i have and there were no chapters or verses when it was originally written it was two rolling pins with a 60-foot piece of parchment and when it's handed to jesus he turns through it this is one of the reasons why it says in daniel that many will run into and fro and knowledge will increase it's not talking about nasa guys it's talking about the fact you're going to go from this part of the scroll to this part of the scroll and you're going to better understand the prophecies that's what he was talking about not spaceships anyway so but jesus finds in the place behold i have come for this reason it's been declared of me that i've come to heal the brokenhearted to set the captives free to say that liberty those who are in bonds to bring sight to the blind this is why jesus came and if that's what his mission was and as christians we are christ's followers that means by default that's what your mission is which means that our ministry our preaching our evangelistic series and so forth should not just be the math of how we're better than the other guys how our message is more accurate than the other guys our messages should be healing the brokenhearted or we're not doing what jesus is asking of us our bible studies our sermons our evangelistic series should be doing the same thing that he did healing the brokenhearted setting the captives free standing at liberty those who are in bonds and that's not going to happen if we're hiding from our own stuff because if we're hiding from our own stuff we don't want to talk about anybody else's stuff because it makes us uncomfortable so let's start here amen we can start here this evening to be willing to face the stuff to be willing to feel and deal are you willing to go there are you willing to let god speak into that space and to do for you and through you what you could never do for yourself that's the question so my appeal this evening is very specific my appeal is this are you willing to give god permission to come into the door of your heart not just to accept him as lord and savior maybe we've led him in the front door but it's those other doors that we don't want him to touch right now would you be open to the fact that he has solutions and comfort behind those doors for the issues that lie behind those doors and would you let him in i hope that you're seeing over the course of this week that he's trustworthy that he has your best interest at heart but will you let him in and do that work that he so desperately longs to do as the god of hope the god of love the god of peace and the god of comfort will you let him be the god of everything that you need tonight that's you invite you to bow your heads with me as we pray god in heaven thank you for being willing to love us in spite of knowing what's behind these closed doors in our heart god i pray that you would forgive us for being afraid for hardening ourselves for walling ourselves off and lord i pray that you would tear down these strongholds this evening that you would do something for us that we didn't even know was possible many of us have been limping through life assuming this is the best that life has to offer not knowing that there's a god of fill in the blank who's willing to meet that need and to comfort us so cover our sins with the blood of jesus fill us with your holy spirit and god i pray that we would genuinely and earnestly this evening give you permission to enter these spaces and to do what you do best to comfort us to heal us to set us free and lord we make a pledge this evening as david did in psalm 35 lord we have a need and we're asking you to address that need and we testify this evening that when you heal me and when you keep your promise that i will testify before the assembly what god has done for me that's you this evening invite you to raise your hands to heaven that god you have my word this evening that if you do this work that you long to do in my heart and in my mind i'm pledging that i will not keep this comfort to myself i will share with those at the right time in the right way we'll talk about vulnerability tomorrow and lord you have my pledge that i will even let my story be used for the salvation of those around me this is our plea tonight lord and we ask this in jesus name amen amen thank you pastor d casper you know god is a gentleman and he's not going to knock the door down because it says in revelation chapter 3 verse 20 behold i stand at the door and knock and so if we're hearing his voice then let's open up the door and let him in because he wants us to have a great experience he wants us to he wants to heal us of our pain so that we can be a blessing to others pastor dee mentioned there's a jar that we have on the table to my left over in that direction and so if you have any questions that there's some there's some paper there there are some pens there we want you to be able to write that down and he'll be able to take that up during i believe the sabbath school class tomorrow morning so i want to give you that opportunity and again if you want to know anything more about uh core you know i believe that god uh um is leading each and every one of these ministries and so if you want to learn something more about core there's some information on the on the table over there just an announcement about tomorrow uh after breakfast we are here at 9 15 for song service and mrs betsy mayer is going to be leading us in that we'll have some canvassing testimonies later sabbath school a break and so forth and so on we'll keep you abreast of the schedule so thank you so much for being here and i believe you are all dismissed at this time all right see you tomorrow morning at what time was that you

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Length: 61min 18sec (3678 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 10 2021