"God's School of Pain" - Pastor Raymond Woodward

the Bible is a book about real people with real problems and real pain it all starts in the Garden of Eden with one sinful decision and the initial consequences of Adam and Eve sin were pain in childbirth for even painful toil to produce food for Adam but that wasn't the end of sin the cumulative effects for the human race was pain across the board physical pain emotional pain relational pain spiritual pain now the good news is that heaven will be a pain-free zone and we're happy about that but the bad news is that between here and there pain is basically guaranteed for all of us Philippians chapter 3 Paul wrote he said that I may know him now this is the last letter Paul will ever write to a church he'll write one letter later to his young son in the gospel Timothy but this is the last one to a church what are you praying for Paul to get out of prison no what are you praying for Paul that you'd have some kind of miraculous intervention nope I'm praying that I may know him in the middle of my circumstances I'm just praying that I'll know him yes I want to know him in the power of his resurrection but here's an odd little prayer that not many people pray I want to know him in the Fellowship of his sufferings and I want to be made conformable unto his death because Paul knew something you need to know and I need to know is that when we die to ourselves God comes alive in us in some major major ways the oldest book in the Bible is the book of Job and job's life was the epitome of pain and suffering this book is not religious fiction it's not a parable job was a real person with real problems and real pain the Bible tells us that he was perfect and upright the Bible says he shunned evil and he had integ in other words what you saw when Joe walked down the street was what he lived in his private life he was not a hypocrite he was a good man what Joe was on the outside he was on the inside what he was in public he was in private Jobe was real he was a servant of God and Joe was a prosperous man he had a large family he had an abundance of land and animals and servants but being rich didn't turn job away from God because he acknowledged that God gave me every blessing in my life and so we used it generously for the good of others and Jobe also had friends now today we disparagingly call them jobs comforters but at least he had some friends but in one faithful 24-hour period job was stripped of his wealth and stripped of his family one after another for frightened messengers came running into his house to report that 500 yoke of oxen 500 donkeys three thousand camels stolen by enemy Raiders and then another messenger seven thousand sheep struck by lightning and killed and then the worst of all another messenger runs in all out of breath panic in his face is that job you'll never believe it I'm so sorry to tell you but there was a windstorm and it hit the house where your children were visiting and feasting and all 10 of your kids were killed in one tragic event one natural disaster shortly after that Jobe lost his health and he's sitting on an ash heap taking a piece of sharp pottery and that broken piece of pottery he's trying to scrape his skin to get some relief from the boils that are everywhere on his body and while he's in his moment of deepest darkest despair and most incredible intense agony his wife turns against him and she said Jobe why don't you just curse God and die it's pretty obvious to me that God doesn't love us and God doesn't love you you might as well shake your fist in the face of the Almighty and just curse him and die now here's the point job knew exactly what had happened to him but here's what job didn't know and this is the question that still plagues the human race thousands of years after job job knew what had happened but he didn't know why it had happened and that's the point this book allows us to do something that job couldn't do this book actually allows us to walk into the throne room of heaven and observe a conversation between God and the devil and because we have hindsight for thousands of years we can look back and we can read about the conversation between God and the devil we know exactly who's caused the destruction but Jobe knows none of that Jobe has no idea he has no benefit of hindsight and if we didn't have the insight we have from the book of Job we would probably do what job's friends did we'd probably take the same approach and we'd start criticizing job we'd start blaming him and even if we didn't say it out loud we think in our heart man job must have done something really sinful something really wrong something really bad he must be a fake a fraud and a phony because God's not very happy with him we might not say it but we'd probably think it but the Bible itself tells us why job's incredible trial got started the Bible itself tells us exactly why job found himself in the day that defied every other day of his life it's a conversation between God and the devil no less the Bible says in job 1 verse 8 the Lord said to Satan hey have you seen job have you considered my servant job devil have you watched that man there's nobody like him in the earth he's perfect he's upright he shuns evil he fears me he worships me he prays to me he builds altars to me devil have you seen my servant job Jove had no idea that conversation ever took place but it did take place do you understand why job ended up in the middle of the worst trial of his life it wasn't because he'd done something wrong it was because he was doing something right and up in heaven God was bragging on job I wonder who it is in the building this morning that maybe God is looking over the balcony at heaven and saying have you seen my servant down at si si si have you seen that precious little sister who's never stood on a platform and never preached in a pulpit and never even had a microphone in her hand but she prays for pastors every day and prays for her church every day and the revival that si si si experiences isn't going to just be because of who occupies the pulpit it's going to be because of that little lady who's so arthritic she can hardly get a hand in the air but when she prays heaven moves hey devil have you seen my servant down there in Fredericton that verse clearly states God had no reason to punish job he allowed job's trials for a higher purpose that only God knew and understood and hundreds of years later the Apostle James picks up his pen and he says behold we count them a happy which endure you've heard hundreds of years later one man picked out of the Old Testament you've heard of the patience of Job and you've seen the end of the Lord you've seen the end of his story that by the time job got to the end of his little story you knew that the Lord was very pitiful and of tender mercy but you can see that in hindsight job had no idea that was going to be how it turned out job didn't know it yet but he had just entered God's School of pain most people say that the theme of job is the age-old question why would a good God let bad things happen to good people why if that is the theme of the book of Job it's a pretty sorry book because it never really answers that question why but I'll tell you what the book of Job does for us it doesn't say why it doesn't answer why do the godly suffer but it does tell us how godly people endure suffering it shows us how godly people act when they're in this kind of a trial of the Lord that you serve and the god we've been worshiping here this morning he's sovereign large and in charge still on the throne of the universe he holds time and eternity in his hand and not one of his words ever falls to the ground everything he says happens everything he decrees comes to pass that's the god we've been worshiping he's sovereign so the devil he can attack you the devil he can try to hinder you the devil he can try to bring grief and sorrow and pain to your life but let me announce something to you the devil has to crawl into the throne room of heaven and get permission from God before he's allowed to do anything in your life the devil is like a big bad junkyard dog but he's on a leash and he may come barreling toward you fangs bared and barking at the top of his lungs pastor Jack said he goes about as a roaring lion but about the time that that great big mean old dog starts to pounce on you all of a sudden a leash Yanks him back and that leash is the hand of God and that leash is the word of God and that leash is the blood of Jesus Christ and that lease is the Holy Ghost and that leash is God's will for you the devil can't do anything to you but what God allows him stopped believing that the devil controls your life stop believing you're in the devil's hands stop believing that the devil ordered your steps this week the devil doesn't order your steps the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord and he delighteth in his way and even though he fall he won't be utterly cast out because the Lord upholds him with his hand stop believing false stuff you see here's the point job didn't know this and you don't know this the devil's accusation against job wasn't really an accusation against job it wasn't really a trial that the was trying to cast against job the devil was actually attacking God and job was just the innocent bystander here on earth you could paraphrase the conversation like this the devil walks into the throne room God is bragging hey Neville you've seen job look at him he's righteous he lives holy he worships me he prays he's raising his family to know me look at Joe and God is bragging on Jobe and the devil looks at God and says hmm the only reason Jobe fears you is because you pay him off the only reason Jobe fears you is because God you're like the Mafia you've made a little contract with Jobe you protect him you prosper him and he obeys you and he worships you you're like the Mafia god you're not a just God you're a mafia kingpin that's all you are you're not a God worthy of worship you have to pay people to honor you yeah they'll come to church because you bless them and they've got money in their pocket and they've got good health and strength and they've got a nice house and a good car to drive to church God you have to pay people to worship you and God said wait just a minute not job not job job worships me regardless of what's going on and the devil said prove it and God said I will you can touch his crops you can touch his animals you can touch his houses you can touch his family but devil I'm gonna yank the leash you can't take his life stop believing that the devil could kill you if the devil could kill you he already would have killed everybody there would have been the biggest pileup of cars on Downing Street and we'd all be dead but the devil can't kill you because he doesn't control your life or your destiny or your eternity you're in the hand of God and so God said to the devil all right you can touch him can you imagine this the fundamental reason job was suffering was not anything to do with Jobe the reason job went through all these endless days and nights of suffering was so that God could shut the devil's mouth that was it end of story God proved to Satan that there could be a man who would honor God even though he lost everything it wasn't war on the ground it wasn't war in the field it was war in the heavenlies it was a battlefield where jobs life was just the symptom the real war wasn't down here the real war was up there Ephesians chapter 6 Paul said we wrestle not against flesh and blood we're wrestling not against your boss or your spouse or your kids or your parents or your siblings or any of your neighbors we're wrestling against principalities and powers against the rulers of the darkness of this world we are wrestling against spiritual wickedness in high places I got to get this into our spirit this morning the only reason job's trouble began it's not because he did something wrong it's because his heavenly father had been bragging about him and the devil said put up or shut up and God said I will now you shut up because job will get into my presence and build an altar and lift his hands and cry those tears and praise me even if life has gone upside down and backwards could it be that God is looking over the balcony of heaven this week and he's looking a little old Fredericton New Brunswick and somebody some precious Sain of God is walking through some kind of deep dark trial and God looks over the balcony of heaven and said hey devil come here look at them they're in church this morning hey when they started singing that song and worship in my name guess what this person that's been in agony all week this person that's had pain in their body last night this person that got up and didn't feel very good this morning they got dressed they made a pot of coffee they drank that down got in their car and drove to church and they walked into the house of God and they didn't care that you've attacked them all week and they didn't care that their life isn't real happy right now they didn't care that they're the most healthy right now they just went to church and lifted up their hands and began to worship me hey devil look at this hey devil look at them some of the tragedies and trials some of the tests and temptations that you walk through they have little to do with you I got to expand your mind today they have little to do with you they are actually weapons in the hand of God to shut the devil's mouth look at this the psalmist said out of the mouths of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies that thou mightest still the enemy shut up the enemy and the Avenger now Jesus quoted that verse from that Psalm at the triumphal entry and when everybody was worshiping him and palm branches and all kinds of stuff going on and little children were screaming and shouting and dancing and laughing and the Pharisees weren't very happy and they said to Jesus in Matthew 21 do you hear what these kids are saying do you hear this this is out of order and Jesus said to them yay have you never read and he reaches back into Psalm 8 and he quotes that verse out of the mouths of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise now you please notice that David said out of the mouths of babes and sucklings you've ordained strength but jesus said out of the mouths of babes and sucklings you've perfected praise did Jesus misquote it no Jesus explained it Jesus said that where your praise is that's where your strength is if you'll praise me I'll give you a strength where strength is praises where praise is strength is when we praise God we win the battle in the heavenlies you might end up with the same job the doctor might give you the same diagnosis but if you'll praise God in the middle of it you'll win a battle that's bigger than your battle down here you'll win a battle in the heavenlies now much of the book of Job is just long long speeches from jobs comforters and today that's a familiar term we use it to describe people who only make you feel worse when they try to help does anybody have somebody in your life like that please don't point at them just lift your hand vertically thank you thank you especially if they're seated beside you please don't point at them but these men who came to talk to job they had some admirable qualities one thing they cared enough about job to travel a long distance to visit him and when they sympathize with him they didn't sit way off at a distance they sat down actually on the ash heap with him and they're surrounded by garbage but they sit there with job and their grief is so great for job that they couldn't even speak they were overcome with grief for their friend for seven days they didn't even say anything but eventually they did start to talk and it went steadily downhill from there regrettably they chose to become like prosecuting attorneys instead of supportive witnesses and in the end the Lord even rebuked them and they had to ask job for forgiveness job's friends heard his words but they didn't feel the anguish of his heart so they took totally the wrong approach and trying to help him handle his trials they tried to give explanations when there weren't any explanations to give there are no explanations when you enter God's School of pain there are no explanations but there are powerful life lessons in this curriculum that you cannot learn anywhere else I came to church today with a message for a precious child of God for a precious couple for a precious young person for a precious senior saying and you're battling right now and you're trying to hold it together for the sake of all of us so yeah you're smiling and you're shaking hands and you're going through all of the stuff that we go through but inside your die and you're hurting you're crying and you feel all alone I have good news for you God has enrolled you in his school of pain and there are some lessons that when you learn them they're gonna make you so powerful for God and such a threat to hell so let me just try to summarize some lessons there's so much in this book but let me move fast and just summarize lesson number one whatever you don't turn into praise just ends up turning into more pain so you better praise God no matter what you're going through if you wallow in it if you talk about it all the time if you worry about it and think about it constantly whatever you just talk about and think about and worry about and meditate on that's just gonna turn into more pain so what you can do is do this instead of creating more pain you can take your pain and turn it into a praise job lost his family in a catastrophe he lost his wealth and his health and worst of all for a while he lost his hope he was a defeated man he even asked God to end his life but in the worst circumstances imaginable even when facing death job still had one thing he could still be joyful about this is an odd little verse job 6 verse 10 then should i yet have comfort even if i die even if god kills me even if my life's over i would still have comfort yay this is odd i would harden myself in sorrow let him not spare don't hold back God for I have not concealed the words of the Holy One now that's an odd little phrase I would harden myself in sorrow and that word hardened in that verse is actually an ancient Hebrew word for joy it appears only once in scripture right there it's not common joy it's rare joy it's extreme joy its triumphant elation even in the face of staggering los if you tried to bring that word into English the reason a word that's joy in Hebrew is translated hardened in English is because it's such a unique word the most literal translation of the word is to leap like a horse so that the stones spark when a horse jumps in its hooves hit the the stones and they spark that's the word that's the meaning of this word so this isn't just jumping for joy this is dancing on top of your disappointment and dancing on top of your discouragement and dancing on top of your depression it's not a joy that denies reality it's a joy that defies reality devil you may have tried to come in like a flood but the Lord is gonna lift up a standard against you and in the middle of my darkest night I'm gonna have joy I'm gonna dance on your head this kind of joy turns every circumstance every circumstance into an opportunity to worship God you worship God on the good days yes but you can worship Him on the bad days you'll worship God when your face is filled with a huge smile ear to ear but you can also worship God when your face is wet with streaming tears you can still worship God and you can dance on the top of your problem the amplified version of that verse says this then would I still have consolation yes I would leap for joy amid unsparing pain even though I shrink from it like Jesus did in the garden he said I if this cup could pass from me but nevertheless God let your will be done job said I may shrink from pain but I'm gonna leap for joy in the middle of pain if pains gonna come I'm still going to praise Him if pains gonna come I'm still gonna serve him he said here's my joy here's why I'm leaping it's not because I'm a sadist it's not because I enjoy pain and suffering no here's my joy that I have not concealed or denied the words holy one would job have changed his circumstances if he could you want to believe it in a heartbeat he would have but Jobe found incredible joy in one fact no matter what life threw at him no matter how he felt emotionally no matter what the devil did to him no matter what losses he experienced job said I still haven't denied the words of the Holy One that's enough to make me feel like dancing that on the worst day of my life I'm still serving Jesus on the worst day of my life I still got to church on the worst day of my life I'm still lifting my hands look at me devil I'm still lifting my hands I defy you to to plague me enough that I won't worship my god devil look at me I'm discouraged disheartened disillusioned depressed I'm almost dead but I've still got breath in my body and seeing that I've got breath in my body I'm still serving God and devil there's nothing you can do about it I have them back slidden I haven't got bitter I'm still keeping God's commandments yeah sometimes it looks like sinners are more blessed than I am but devil listen to me hear my voice I'm still worshiping God I'm still lifting up the name of the Lord in the sanctuary I haven't denied his words and right now devil I'm gonna turn my pain into praise the NIV says it this way then I would still have this consolation this is my joy in unrelenting pain some of you were there but Jobe said I have this consolation that I had not denied the words of the Holy One here's another lesson we learn in God's school of pain some of us just audit a course from now now and then but some of us have been enrolled for weeks or months or even years here's another lesson we learn in God's school of pain oh my goodness I like this don't let what's wrong with you keep you from worshiping what's right with God not a preach I said don't let what's wrong with you keep you from worshiping what's right with God some people Telegraph and transmit everything that's wrong with them they don't have to tell you they just look it they walk in they're a professional at the downcast face because they want you to stumble into their trap how are you that's like lighting a fuse to a pile of TNT they're gonna blow and dump all over you for half the day they're gonna tell you all the excruciating gory details of everything that's going on but you know what if you go up to a saint of god that's been in God's school of pain and they've learned this lesson you walk up to them and you'll say how are you because you are worried about them and they'll say God's good all the time I'm doing great yeah I've got pain in my body but let me get by you here I gotta go find a seat I need to get in church and lift up my hands cuz the pain becomes secondary when his presence becomes primary so just let me get by you're here I don't have time to give you all the gory details let me get in to the presence of God because what's wrong with me it's not gonna stop me from worshiping what's right with him there's a lot wrong with me but everything is right with him let's not pretend that life doesn't hurt cuz many times it does many times life hurts a lot let's not pretend that pain doesn't exist let's not fake it till we make it that doesn't do anybody any favors it's okay not to be okay in fact when you admit I'm not okay that's really the first step in the healing process and dear brothers and sisters when somebody's suffering and in pain and in the trial of their life let's please not try to explain it away with Church cliches remember that job's friends were a great comfort to him as long as they kept their lips zipped it was when they opened their mouth that they gave him grief when somebody's suffering or grieving or gone through a law or in a trial don't give them a bunch of advice and cliches and six words from God and try to explain why it's happening because you don't know why it's happening you don't know why God took that person prematurely you don't know why they're still sick when they've been in every prayer line from here to last June you have no idea only God does so can I give you a little pastoral advice say less listen more love them be there for them and pray for them because they're in the Battle of their life and just because their life isn't so great right now doesn't mean they're doing anything wrong it could be that God is bragging on them to the devil it could be that God has said devil I'll let you touch them because I'm going to show you that that little lady is still gonna praise me and that little sir down there he's still got to get his hands in the air and get to church and worship me faith isn't flying above every storm faith is weathering the storm faith is trusting God's heart even when you can't see his hand faith his understanding that sometimes your obstacle is your opportunity for God to work pain is part of the curse but that doesn't mean that God can't redeem it and recycle it and speak through it if you want to make it through the tough times here's how to do it you've got to learn something it's counterintuitive it'll irritate your flesh it'll defy your human logic but here's what you've got to do to make it through the tough times you've got to learn to give God the sacrifice of praise yes it's easier said than done but if you want to live by faith there is no other option the writer of Hebrews said here don't you forget we have no continuing City your life isn't about how good everything's going we are seeking a city to come so in light of the fact that everything here is temporary and everything over there is eternal by him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually that is the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name pastor Raymond I have nothing to thank God for you're wrong pastor Raymond I don't have any good things to bless the name of the Lord for you're absolutely wrong if you would learn this little lesson don't let what's wrong with you mess up your worship of a God for whom everything is right don't let what's wrong with you don't let that keep you from worshiping what's right with your God I wish somebody on a Sunday morning would lift up your hands and the fruit of your lips that means you have to say it that means you have to use your voice that means you have to use your vocabulary and guess what God hears it but you know who else hears it that devil hears it devil I'm still gonna worship God even though I had another doctor's appointment and the news wasn't good devil watch me hear me listen to me I'm gonna worship my god even though it doesn't look so great right now and you can't stop me Satan you can't hinder me devil you can't oppose me adversary because even though my emotions don't feel like it I'm gonna will my hands in the air I'm gonna will my voice in the air and I am gonna use my words instead of pouring out depression I'm gonna pour out praise it's a sacrifice but it's still praise I love you Jesus yes and somewhere over the balcony heaven God just went see that Satan see that devil they can still praise me even though they didn't get good news this week they can still praise me even though their child hasn't come home they can still praise me while they're middle in the middle of treatment they can still praise me see that devil yes yes how did job survive his personal hell on earth what did job do on that day in the very moment that he lost it all in the very moment that the messenger came and said all 10 of your children just were killed what did he do here's what he did then job arose and rent his mantle and shaved his head and he fell down on the ground and worshiped he didn't fall down down on the ground and complain he fell down on the ground and worship and here's what he said naked came I out of my mother's womb naked shall I return thither the Lord gave and the LORD hath taken away I don't understand it I don't know why he did it I don't know why he allowed it but here's what I'll say in the middle of what I don't understand blessed be the name of the Lord here's what I can say from a cancer ward here's what I can pray from palliative care here's what I can pray when I'm at a graveside here's what I can pray in the middle of a graveyard and a funeral service for somebody that I love more than life itself here's what I can say he gave and he took away but here's my verdict devil blessed be the name of the Lord if you think that it's going to stop me from worshiping him you've got another thought coming this is something that you learn in God's little school of pain don't be so focused on getting out of your trial that you don't get anything out of your trial now that's gonna be deep for some of you and it's getting close to lunch so let's back that truck up again don't be so focused on getting out of your trial that you don't get anything out of your trial have you ever considered that pain can be a gift without pain we would repeatedly re injure ourselves in the same ways over and over without pain emotionally many times we'd simply maintain the status quo that's hurting us without pain we'd ignore problems that could eventually kill us nothing gets our full attention like pain pain breaks down false idols and purifies false motives pain reveals where we need to heal pain reveals where we need to grow pain refocuses our priorities like nothing else and pain is part of God's sanctification process in our lives and so you read that Bible of yours many of the familiar faces in Scripture endure dark nights of the soul Sarah wrestled with infertility Moses was a fugitive for forty years David had a father-in-law who was wanting to kill him Mary Magdalene was demon-possessed Peter struggled with self-doubt after he denied even knowing Jesus and Paul had memories of murder of Christians seared into his soul they all had pain my prayer for you my prayer for our folks in this great church is not that we'd always be pain-free it's that we'd learn to see God's hand and hear God's voice in the middle of our pain what is God trying to teach you what is he trying to cultivate in your character sometimes the circumstances we're trying to change are the very circumstances God is using to change us know all pain is not caused by God pain is a result of the curse it's most often just a symptom of living in a fallen world but sometimes pain can be a gift from God it's the language that can't be ignored you can leave your Bible on your bedside table you can ignore sermons and Saints advice and admonitions family and friends and pastors and preachers but you can't ignore pain the expression no pain no gain that's older than you think that didn't come from a workout video that actually dates back to the second century a Jewish rabbi said according to the pain is the game pain can actually be a gift from God that he uses for his glory and our good for some of us God used pain to get us out of addictive behaviors for some of us God used pain to get us out of adverse situations or abusive relationships God uses pain to make us fed up with our flesh and sin in the world and for some of us God used pain to pull us back from the brink of backsliding over and over see you're a child of God you're different than everybody else that walks the streets of this city the Bible says in Romans 8 and we know that all things work together for good not to everybody in the world to them that love God to them who are the called according to his purpose now this is amazing to me in the Gospels the miracle that Jesus repeated more than any other was the healing of lepers now we talked about lepers and leprosy a few weeks ago have you ever stopped to consider what that miracle accomplished what he was doing when he healed them was see leprosy was a disease that attacked the nerve endings and they had no feelings so they got infections they got gangrene they could injure themselves a limb could literally rot off their body and they'd never know what her feel it because they had no sense of touch so when jesus healed them he was restoring their sense of touch that's the curse of leprosy the loss of feeling lepers can't feel pain or pleasure they become numb to the physical world around them and that is a very dangerous way to live so Jesus gave them the gift of touch one more time and that gift includes both pleasure and pain so literally when jesus healed every leper he ever healed he was saying I'm gonna give you back your pain and when he gave them back their pain he was actually helping to heal them sometimes God heals us by giving us some pain to deal with now we can be honest we're in church we nearly always opt for the path of least resistance but that hardly ever gets us where God wants us to go I'm not suggesting me to seek out pain pain will find you soon enough all I'm suggesting is when pain comes don't try to go around it go through it and embrace what God is teaching you and saying through your suffering job said I can't tell you why I'm suffering but let me show you how I'm going to suffer I don't see God's hand right now but I trust his heart I'm going to praise God through this trial and I'm gonna get something out of it here's what Jobe said behold I go forward he's not there I look around behind me can't see him there either on the left hand I know he's working he says he's working but I can't behold him and he hides himself on my right hand that I can't see him there either so I don't know what's going on I don't know but he knoweth the way that I take and when he has tried me I shall come forth as gold I don't know when this is over but whenever it is over I'm not coming out back slidden or bitter I'm coming out praising God I'm coming out with a shout on my lips and I'm coming out with joy in my soul Cathy come on back you learn this in God's school of pain our trials today become our testimony tomorrow we love to celebrate miracles we celebrated a beautiful miracle that happened in our church because of the prayers of God's people just on Father's Day but you don't get a miracle les you've gone through a problem you don't get a miracle unless you've gone through a dark night a trial the good news is that your trials and your pain they both have expiry dates but lamentations 3 tells me that the mercies of God are new every morning and whenever it is here on earth or in heaven that you finally get the vantage point of hindsight you will say God did all things well I didn't understand it and I didn't even like it but here's what we learned from job's little story after his suffering the Bible says the Lord gave job twice as much as he had before he got a double portion because he went through the trial his trial became his testimony but that's not all we learned that God's school of pain please remember that your God never wastes a hurt so if you want to know where God's going to use you tomorrow you don't need to look any further than your pain today we help other people in places where we've been hurt your problems become your platforms and your weakness actually becomes your strength because the Bible tells me that it's in weakness that God's power is actually made perfect look at what Paul wrote to the Corinthians he said God comforts us in all our tribulation why so we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God if you got through it congratulations if you're on the other side of it thank God if you've got victory in your soul we're worshiping God with you but for heaven's sake use what you went through to reach out to somebody else and help up nobody can't pray for someone suffering the loss of a loved one like somebody that just went through the loss of a loved one nobody can't pray for a parent with a backslidden child like somebody who's had a bad slidden child nobody can minister to someone who's sick and body like someone who's walked through a terrible illness and come out the other side that's what we learned our trials today will become our testimony tomorrow second Corinthians chapter 12 Paul said I had a little talk with God I didn't like my thorn in the flesh I didn't like my trial I didn't like any of it and I went to God and I said God hey down here Paul me apostle persecuted almost killed whipped and beaten going around spreading the gospel hey God you probably owe me something by now would you help me get rid of this thorn in the flesh and Paul said here's what God said to me my grace is sufficient for them and if I don't relieve it worship me in the midst of it and if I don't take it away turn it into a praise and lift it up to me because my strength is made perfect in your weakness and so here's Paul's little conclusion so most gladly therefore I'm not gonna whine complain I'm not gonna grumble and murmur and mumble I'm gonna glory in my infirmities because I want the power of Christ to rest upon me so when I'm weak God's strong so I'll just say God whatever you got for me I'll get through it somehow you're gonna have to help me walk through it but I'm not turning around I'm not gonna lay down back down shut down or shut up I'm gonna worship you all the way through it one last thing this is what we learn some of us have graduate degrees from God's school of pain but here's what we learn if you're a new Christian at si si si if you're a young believer if your life been pretty good up till now hang in there but here's what you learn is so powerful the hardest praise is the highest praise I said the hardest praise is the highest praise it's easy to praise God when everything's going well nothing wrong with that we should worship God for our blessings but it's a lot harder to worship God when your body is being racked with pain and your home is being attacked by the devil that's okay because the hardest praise is the highest praise you sing the highest praise when you're in the middle of the battle when you have a sword in this hand and you got this hand lifted to God worshiping him you're fighting off the enemy and praising God all at the same time we quote the first part of this verse and we ignore the second part let the high praises of God be in their mouth yea and a two-edged sword in their hand why did the psalmist say it like that because the hardest praise is the highest praise and the highest praise comes out of the middle of the worst battle of your life so if you're in a battle don't you dare throw up your hands and say I must be doing something wrong chances are you're doing something absolutely right and you're caught up in heaven it's saying devil take a look at that you thought you could knock him down and knock him out but look they got back up got the church watch him worship devil watch him cry watch him sing watch him smile watch them lift their hands because devil you don't have the final say over their life that's how Jobe survived his dark night of the soul that's how Moses and David survived their years in the wilderness that's how Daniel survived the Lions Den that's what got Paul and Silas out of prison that's what caused the three Hebrew boys to look at a pagan king of the biggest baddest Empire of that time in the ancient world and they looked at that little old Babylonian king and they said to him King our God is able to deliver us from your hand and from your fiery furnace he's going to deliver us but if not if he doesn't do it we're still not going to bow and we're still not going to praise you our God is able to deliver us out of your head do you realize what they were saying King it's gonna happen either way if God works a miracle and the fire shuts down if God walks with us into the midst of the flame and does a miracle in the fire or if we go into the fire and we're burned to a crisp and they have our funeral later today guess what King either way we're still gonna be out of your hand either way we're still going to be in God's head could I say to somebody today if you've got faith in God and you're serving Jesus either way you win either way you get out of your trial either way you get healed you're either going to get a heal down here and we'll glorify God for the great testimony or you're gonna get healed on the way up in the rapture but either way you're out of the devil's hand forever and either way God wins and you win it was hard praise so it was high praise [Music] Oh too close there's really no answer in the book of Job as to exactly why he suffered but Jobe had decided how he was gonna suffer long before his trial ever began and you've got to do that to job chapter 1 verse 10 here's the devil's big gripe here's the devil's big complaint here's the devil's big pity party in the throne room of heaven and in the whiniest satanic voice you can imagine here's what the devil said God you've made a hedge around Joe you've made a hedge around his house you put a hedge around all that he has on every side you blessed the work of his hands and his substance is increased in the land God no wonder he worships you everything's good no wonder he praises you everything's coming up roses no wonder he worships you you've done everything good for him he has not a care or a problem in the world the devil accused God of building a wall around Jobe and the devil said God give me permission to tear that wall of blessing down brick by brick by brick by brick and God when I get that wall torn down you'll see I'll prove it to you God job is going to shake his little feeble frail human fist in your face and he's gonna curse you and he's gonna die in sin Joe won't serve you if you don't bless him Joe bones serve you if his life's not good job won't serve you if he can't explain you and so God said okay the devil started pulling out the bricks out of that wall brick of blessing brick a family brick of possessions brick of animals brick of fields brick of crops brick of houses brick of land brick of possessions and the devil pulled down every brick in that hedge a blessing that God had put around Jobe and when the devil finish pulling out every pop pulling every crunch pulling down every brick pulling down the wall of blessing and God allowed him to or he couldn't have done it and when the devil stood back to admire his handiwork and wait for the fist to rise up and wait for the scowl on job's face and wait for God's voice to start cursing the god he had worship wait for job to get consumed with bitterness the devil all of a sudden took another look and gasped in horror because he'd successfully torn down the wall that God had built around Jobe but when he got that wall torn down he looked in horror and beheld another wall it was a wall that job had built Jobe said I can still praise God with a sword in one hand and a prayer in the other I'm still fighting for my life but guess what I built this heads God didn't build this one for me I built this one by my little old self and here is my heads even if God kills me even if he slays me even if you have my funeral tomorrow I'm still gonna trust him I'm still gonna maintain my way and my walk and my worship before him and he'll there's not one thing you can do about it because God didn't build this heads oh he blessed me oh he gave me health and strength but if he takes it all away today I'm still gonna worship Him tomorrow because God didn't build that part God can't force me to worship Him but I can choose to worship Him I can choose to lift my hands I can choose to give him praise [Music] last scripture probably the most famous one in job job said I don't know what's going on I don't know when I'm getting out I don't know why I don't know how but here's what I know I know that my redeemer lives and I know that the life might knock me down he's still gonna be standing at the latter day and even those skin worms destroy this body you bury me in the cold dark ground you bury me in a casket or a coffin you put my body in the earth and it's consumed by the earth that gave it birth yet in my flesh I shall see God and on that day I'm gonna see him for myself my eyes will behold him for myself not another even though my rains be consumed within me if I lose it all I'm still going to give my all if I lose everything I'm still gonna lift up praise if I enroll in God's School of pain I'm still gonna let God sit him as I give God a class in my school of pray [Music] I'd like somebody not everybody because I don't think everybody can do this I'd like somebody that you know exactly what pastors talking about that you've been there and done that you've taken the classes you've added the courses you've been enrolled in the graduate degree program of God school of pain I'd like you in just a second to lift up your hands and ignore everybody else and give God the greatest praise you can muster with all your strength your body may be in pain right now but you can still praise Him your hand family may be in chaos right now but you can still praise them you may have doubts and fears but you can still praise Him and so I'm going to ask you to lead the charge not all of us are in pain right now but you are not all of us are in crisis right now but you are and I'm going to ask you to become the worship leader for a moment would you stand to your feet if you're able and lift up your hands and when you begin to pray and this great church is going to join you and they can praise with you but you can praise like they can't praise because the hardest praise is the highest praise the hardest praise is the highest praise [Music] yes yes gasps yes gasps yes devil you have the persona like a roaring lion but listen to what pastor said this morning and listen to what I'm doing right now this is the roar of praise to the Lion of the tribe of Judah devil you can't keep me down or hold me back [Music] we have just a couple of minutes here but this is critically crucially important if this message is for you for some reason and it's nobody's business why I'd like you to step out of where you're standing right now and I'd like you to lead us one more time you just let us in praise I'd like you to lead us to the altar I'd like you to hit the altar first and I like to get your your hands up in the air and I'd like to get your voice up in the air and I'd like to get your praise floating through the atmosphere because you have a reason to praise God you can't praise God because everything's perfect you can praise Him because he's still worthy you can't praise God because everything's happy you can praise Him because his name is still great [Music] ladies I need you to make way if you would I need brother Larry I want you to come right up here by pastor come on right up here just make a path for him [Music] I just need you right over here this man's got a heart to praise God he hasn't got healed yet he has he got his prayer answered yet he hasn't got all his heart's desire yep but his man loves God and God loves this man and I guarantee you that right now God's looking over the balcony of heaven saying hey devil check that out check this guy out check my servant out check my son out he can still praise me even when his body's racked with pain but devil look he's not the only one look at her look at her look at them look at that devil my people are gonna praise me even when they're in the middle of pain [Music] [Applause] [Music] if you lost a loved one recently pastor's not scolding you I just want you to get your hands in the air not because I'm trying to shame you I want you to be blessed this morning if you've lost a loved one if you're under treatment for a disease if your family's in a mess if you've got lost children if you've got whatever that's going on in your life just get your hands in the air and worship God I'm not saying that to push you or hurt you I'm saying that because I want God's blessing to come on you this mornin because there's a blessing in the middle of the trial there's a blessing in the middle of a struggle there's a blessing in the middle of the valley [Music] oh yes thank you Jesus thank you Jesus pull that screen up guys thank you Jesus yes yes Arum Okayama Hashanah yes yes yes yes yes level lucious and another for Yamaha now this next part is really really important would you reach over and pray for somebody or with somebody right now even though you're suffering you can still pray for somebody God can use your prayer while you're walking through something you don't even understand [Music]

Channel: Capital Community Church

Views: 34,194

Rating: 4.8395247 out of 5

Keywords: god's, school, of, pain, pastor, raymond, woodward, preaching, preach, sermon, ccc, capital, community, church, fredericton, nb, new, brunswick, canada, upc, upci, united, pentecostal, international, apostolic, christian

Id: HABGnnGoMn4

Length: 60min 14sec (3614 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 24 2018