Romans 8:18 "The Groaning and the Glory" - 10/11/2018

[Music] so where did you are we ready Jonathan okay we're ready guys Wow great turnout thrilled everybody's here we've got some new new guys welcome we're thrilled you're here just as I get started I've got three boxes over here I cleaned out some things in my study just extra books and some publishers just mail me books and I've got doubles and whatever so you're welcome to take anything you want okay you can sell them on eBay if you want and just kind of work the system so any books over there they're yours take them so let's start and word of Prayer can father as we start now this Bible study we ask that you would give us eyes to see the truth of your word that your Holy Spirit would be our teacher Lord I pray you'd make our hearts receptive to your word and we ask that you would bring it home with application to right where we are to our own lives so change us transform us strengthen us edify us build us up encourage us comfort us do all these multifaceted works within as we are very needy and in need of your grace so father we pray this in Christ's name Amen okay we're in Romans chapter 8 this is about as good as it gets Romans chapter 8 and today we want to look at verses 18 to 22 now for those of you who are new to our study today and we're thrilled you're here we're almost two years into the book of Romans and we're we're we're in the middle is it - yeah two years can yeah yeah and we are in the middle of Romans a and just to give you the big picture Romans six through eight is a theology of the Christian life and it is the largest most expansive portion of Scripture that gives us a framework for the Christian life it's not intended to be the specifics of how to live the Christian life that'll be in chapters 12 through 15 but this is really the foundation a theology of the Christian life and so to this point we've looked at the first 17 verses and it's all about the Ministry of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer to enable us to live the Christian life and let me just say again there's no way any of us here can live the Christian life in our own strength and in our own wisdom with our own just sheer determination that's that's not going to do it jesus said apart from me you can do nothing and so it's by the indwelling Holy Spirit in us that he is actively at work conforming us into the image of Christ so as we come now to verse 18 the focus is upon suffering because it would be very easy for us as we live our Christian lives to enter into times of suffering and for us to conclude well what's wrong with me where did I go astray I didn't know that there was going to be suffering involved in the Christian life in fact I thought the Christian life was going to be the removal of all my problems and in fact as you become a Christian in a sense you get a new set of problems you now are swimming upstream against the current of this world you're no longer a part the world system you're in the world but you're not of the world and you and I face resistance every day in our Christian life and we now have stepped up to the frontlines of spiritual warfare and there are now temptations that we never had before that now are facing us every day and there's also persecution and there's also tribulation and at the same time we are not immune to everything else that's involved in living in a fallen world we still face the death of parents well we still have children that go straight we still become sick we still have a business deal that goes south we still have a loan that's called in I mean we're not immune from trials in the Christian life and so Paul has to address the reality and even the certainty of suffering in the Christian life and God has a higher purpose for us in our suffering and it is to that we would be identified with Christ it was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief how could we really experientially be identified with Christ if we just had clear sailing in the Christian life and yet he was crucified and yet he was the subject of much rejection in opposition in order for us to truly know Christ there has to be suffering in our lives that we can be bonded with him but suffering also winds us off of this world and causes us to focus on the world to come and it's important that we be setting our mind on things above and not on things of this earth and suffering has a way of uprooting us from being too deeply attached two things in this world but suffering also is a part of God's sanctification that's why this is here in Romans chapter eight that God uses our suffering to purchase of certain wrong priorities and wrong attitudes I mean suffering does have a way to drop us to our knees and reengage us in our prayer life and suffering also is used to help us encourage other people because there are people who are suffering all around us and when we go through difficult times it's very easy for us to to identify with them and to be able to minister to them and if all we had was an easy street in our Christian life how are we gonna be able to relate to a hurting world that's around us and so God has great purposes in our Christian life for there to be the mix of suffering and there's not a one of us who goes through this life escaping trials and difficulties disappointments and the pains of life and further suffering is an extraordinary witnessing opportunity most people are not converted while the sun is shining and everything is prosperous most people are converted when they're knocked to their knees and they come to the end of themselves that's when they look up and so God in the genius the infinite genius as he weaves together the threads of a tapestry of Providence has brilliantly chosen to weave these threads of suffering into our Christian experience and there's a lot of false teaching out there today that says that if you're really walking by faith you just kind of name it and claim it and and these things will just go away and I want you to know that's a false gospel I want you to know that that is that is heretical Joe was the most righteous man on the earth he was upright fearing God and he was singled out to suffer because God had a higher purpose it was God who threw job's name into the ring have you considered my servant job there's none like him that was God's estimation of him and it was God who introduced suffering it was Jesus who sent the disciples into the storm when he went up to the mountain to pray he providentially purposely sent them into the storm on the Sea of Galilee that night to test their faith James 1 verse 2 says consider it all joy my brethren when you encounter various trials knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance and let endurance have it's perfect result that you might be mature and complete lacking in nothing so it's kind of like getting into God's weight room and that's how God builds up our spiritual muscles for there to be this resistance that comes against our faith so all that is just by way of introduction into this text romans 8 and i want to begin reading in verse 18 my intent is to get through verse 22 but but we'll see how we do this morning romans 8 verse beginning in verse 18 for i consider that the sufferings do you see that I'm in my I took out my ballpoint pen and I underlined this okay my official new American Standard Bible okay it is underlined right here for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us for the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of sons of God for the creation was subjected to futility not willingly but because of him who subjected it in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God for we know and let me just say this we must know this we cannot be ambivalent about this for we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now well I can already tell we're not gonna be able to get all the way through that there's there's a lot of truth in these verses Ivan I've entitled this this Bible study the groaning and the glory the groaning and the glory because what this is saying is we go from groaning in this life to glory in the life to come now please note Paul has a very realistic view of the Christian life there is no sugarcoating the Christian life here there's no fine print in the contract there's no false expectations there will be suffering there is the certainty of suffering that that we see here and it is intended by God to be used for positive purposes in our lives and so Paul tells us right up front here about the suffering that's involved in the Christian life and you and I need to know I want to say this that in the Christian life it's not about the subtraction of suffering it's about the addition of grace to go through suffering I mean it's one thing to go through suffering and you're just on your own just button your chinstrap you're on your own just gut it out without the Lord or for you and me we go through our suffering with the Lord and he is with us and he gives us the supernatural grace to enable us to live triumphantly in our Christian life well as we go through this let me you know I like an outline to hang my my thoughts on so let me give you the first heading and it's in verse 18 and it's the comparison you and I have to make this comparison as Paul will now compare our present suffering with future glory so he begins for I consider the word for I've already told you introduces an explanation I just want you to see this in your Bible three consecutive verses 18 19 20 and then in in verse 22 they all begin with the word for do you see that in your Bible all of those introduced an explanation that's what the word for introduces it is an explanation of the previous verse so verse 18 is an explanation of verse 17 and in verse 17 he introduces the subject here of suffering and glory you see that in verse 17 so now verse 18 becomes this commentary on suffering and glory and and and I just need to say this as well you don't have one without the other it's not a multiple-choice it's a package deal so he says for I consider and I want to just hit the pause button for a second this word this verb consider is is a word that speaks of a mathematical calculation it's a it's a very objective study of facts by which you derive a bottom-line conclusion it's a Greek word Loggins oh my you can here logarithms even in that do the math on this so this we're not talking about subjective feelings this isn't a touchy-feely conclusion that we come to know this is this is very cognitive this is very intellectual this is very theological for I consider and now here's what Paul is going to do just picture Paul holding some scales and there are the two pans on both sides of the scales and Paul is going to measure one against the other and on one side of the scales he's gonna put sufferings and on the other side of the scales he's going to put glory and he's saying to you and to me you need to do the math on this and you need to weigh one against the other so he says I for I consider that the sufferings of this present time now this present time refers to the entirety of of your life it refers actually to the entirety of this age until the second coming of Christ until the return of the Lord and this suffering in verse 35 includes things like tribulation distress persecution famine nakedness verse 36 being put to death because of one's faith I mean that's just kind of the tip of the iceberg of the suffering that's involved in in the Christian life so on one side of the scales he puts our sufferings please note also it's in the plural and so it's an indication of the the multiplicity of sufferings they're not just a little isolated you know one year may be a suffering and skip a year and then the next year there's suffering no it's sufferings plural he says are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us now this glory refers to future glory it refers to the glory that awaits us in heaven in fact heaven is so synonymous with glory that in many Bible verses heaven is just simply identified as glory you know when someone dies we just say well he graduated to glory he went on to glory that it's synonymous with heaven because heaven is just full of glory and it's the glory of God and it is the glory that will be shared with us when we arrive so Paul is saying or I know one side of the scales we put our present suffering and and these sufferings are real now these sufferings are painful these sufferings drop you to your knees I mean these sufferings are a kick in the stomach these sufferings bring a flood of tears out of your eyes these sufferings keep you from sleep these sufferings put a knot in your stomach so they're real but Paul is saying you're gonna have to keep this in perspective because they're inconsequential compared to the glory that awaits you and as you live your Christian life you cannot become someone who is drowning in your suffering you cannot become obsessed with your suffering you cannot become my optic and preoccupied with your suffering you can't just let this keep playing in your mind and tell your corkscrew down into the ground and become depressed and discouraged and defeated and deflated you can't let that happen Paul says you've got to keep these scales in front of you and you must be reminded of this glory that is to be revealed and you need to be continually making this comparison to keep your suffering perspective because as you keep it in perspective the reality is you've never had a bad day in comparison to what awaits you so that's where that's where Paul is taking us and he says it will be revealed to us you see that at the end of verse 18 it will be revealed so you know what that means right now it's hidden the only thing you know about it is a few cracks in the veil on some passages of Scripture where the veil is pulled back and we're just momentarily allowed to peer into that glory it's like you're in a dark room I just stayed in a dark hotel room and and the door wasn't well built and I wake up in the middle of the night and I could see the light shining through the cracks around that door it's how bad the the room was and that's the way it is for us right now I mean it heaven is veiled to us there's just a few cracks in the end of scripture that allows the glory to shine through to us so that we get an idea of what it's going to be like on the other side but there has to be this calculation you have to keep it here's the word in perspective and as you make this comparison let's just compare the two scales because this future glory is so weighty and so heavy that it just these scales just pop just drop and our present sufferings are so inconsequential and so light that the scales go like this and our sufferings really just go up in the air that mean they can't even stay on the scales when compared to the weight of glory now when we compare these here's how this comparison goes our present sufferings are but temporal the glory that awaits us is eternal there'll be no end to the glory I mean that this right now our present sufferings is just a blip on the screen I mean I'm 67 years old I don't know how much longer I have to live I mean this for all I know this is my last my last lap you know whatever suffering I'll have from now to the end in my life it's just a tiny little grain of sand on the beach of eternity compared to what awaits us and Paul is saying you've got to keep this in perspective that your trials right now are just it's just a tick on the clock it's just passing what is waiting for you on the other side will never come to an end so you be encouraged you can hang in there just for this small amount of time I remember once when I first started pastoring I had a woman come to me but just joined her church and she was just telling me how impossible it was to live with her husband and I knew her husband and I had met with him and she was right I mean this was a difficult assignment for this woman she was having her devotions and lamentations oh shoot okay so it was Amy but anyway so I was aiming okay I knew it would come out you are unequally yoked it is true so I remember I said to her I said to her it's only another 40 years I literally said that I said it's only another 40 years it could be 50 I don't know what's that it's nothing compared to what awaits you in the glory that is to come and what we tend to do is we tend to focus gaze upon our sufferings and only glance at the future glory and we've got to reverse that we've got to simply glance at our sufferings and stay gazing upon the future glory if we're to be strong in the Lord if we're to be strong if we're gonna if we're to be stable in our Christian life if we are not to be collapsing every time a trial comes and listen we're all fragile we're all subject to this we're all it's easy to take your eye off the ball it's easy to become caught up in and consumed with the suffering that's just right in front of my nose and we've got to make a determinative choice Paul says you've got to do the math on this you've got to be objective you can't let your emotions take you away on this here is the fact of the matter these sufferings are just a blip on the screen the glory that awaits you is forever those present sufferings are light they're very light they feel like the weight of the world they're not in comparison to the glory that comes now when i underscore again they're real listen i cry III wake up in the middle night just like everybody else but that's when we've got to do the fact check and remind ourselves of the future glory and what it does is it just pulls us up and it strengthens us and it energizes us to keep on keepin on keep our eyes on the prize that is out ahead of us now I've got to give us a cross-reference second Corinthians chapter four and you're gonna want to turn to this second Corinthians chapter four or for those of you watching in England it's 2 Corinthians 4:17 and it's Isaiah second Corinthians four let me start in verse 16 and Paul has been talking about the difficulties of the Christian life and okay I'm gonna go back to verse eight now alright let's go back to Genesis 1 this is called backward exposition okay I go verse by verse backwards through the Bible got to be really good to be this bad okay so second Corinthians chapter four and so verse 8 Paul says we are afflicted in every way I mean there's there's no false view of the Christian life here at the paw we're afflicted in every way but not crushed we are perplexed that that means you're so disoriented in the midst of the storm and in the difficulty of your life that you've lost a sense of balance and direction you're perplexed but not despairing persecuted but not forsaken struck down but not destroyed always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus and that that is metaphorical therefore all of the sufferings and for Paul and for many today who are facing real persecution that there there is a reality about this dying of Jesus so that now here's the purpose though in this see our suffering is not random it's not without reason and a higher purpose so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our body well we want that well there's only one way to have that and that is to be struck down and that is to be afflicted and the more we're crushed the sweet smelling of aroma of Christ emerges from us so verse 11 for we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus sake so that here's the purpose it's intentional so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh in other words the weaker I am the stronger by am and when I'm strong in myself in reality I'm incredibly weak but when I recognize my weakness it causes me to depend upon the Lord and that strengthens me it's good for us to be knocked down because it causes us to look up so verse 12 so death works in us but life and you what Paul is saying there is I'm willing to take the blows that come to me because it is the means of blessing to you the more I suffer in my Christian life it is a means of blessing to you death to me life to you the way it is for a father the way it is for a mother the way it is for a pastor a missionary the more we sacrifice and pay the price the more it brings blessing to others now if we want others to be blessed we just can't sit on a sofa and watch TV I mean we have to go through the valley of the shadow of death for there to be blessing others just the way ministry works it's the way the Christian life works I mean how could you end up with a prosperity gospel with all these verses in the Bible so verse verse 13 but having this same spirit of faith according to what is written I believe therefore I spoke we also believe therefore we also speak and what are you saying is it's in our sufferings that deepens our convictions about what we really believe listen in in good times it's just easy to repeat a confession of faith when you're suffering for it now we find out do you really believe this do you own this verse 14 knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and will present us with you the resurrection power of God will strengthen and raise us in this life and at the end of this age the resurrection power Christ will have the last word and will raise our mortal bodies and we will stand before the Lord God will have the last word on everything in my life so verse 15 for all things are for your sakes now that's that's an important phrase these all things refer to all of our present sufferings it's for your sake I am beaten so you will be blessed I suffer so that you can succeed so that the grace verse 15 which is spreading to more and more people because the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God the more I'm being crushed Paul says and other servants like me the more the message is spreading further and further you remember the book Acts what got him out of Jerusalem it was persecution they just retained in the holy huddle in Jerusalem you know until the persecution came it was the persecution that drove the gospel to the known world so God is working through our sufferings now all this is to lead up to the verses I was going to read so verse 16 therefore now that therefore just brings everything that we just looked at it brings it down to a bottom line so therefore let's let's synthesize this now let's put a bow around this make sure we don't miss this therefore we do not lose heart and what that means is we who are suffering we who are going through trials and tribulations we who are going through excruciating difficulties in our Christian life we do not lose heart in the midst of this suffering we don't throw in the towel we eat the towel okay that's a sports metaphor kinetech we do not lose heart you lose heart when you take your eye off of the glory and the purpose that God is working in my life in the midst of this suffering but we don't lose heart if we keep our eyes on the eternal perspective we do not lose heart but though our outer man is decaying and and that means because of the suffering you've got more gray hairs because of the suffering you've lost a bunch of hair because it's suffering you've got wrinkles in your forehead big because of the suffering I mean your shoulders are starting to slump over because the sufferings you're about an inch shorter than what you used to be because of the suffering your body really has paid a price because of the suffering you've got calluses on your knees so though our outer man is decaying look at this yet our inner man that's the real you that's your soul that is your spirit small s that's who you are on the inside our inner man is being renewed day by day that that's a present tense verb God is continually day by day even moment by moment month by month you are being renewed and what that means is you're being strengthened you're being Enif eyed you're being revived youyou are being you are maturing so the more your outer man is being buffeted your inner man is being built up what an oxymoron so this is the irony of the Christian life the more you give the more it comes back I mean Jesus said blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted Jesus said blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven I mean the more broke-broke you are before the Lord the more you have from him the emptier you are the more you are filled the more you die to self the more you're resurrected it's the the paradox of the Christian life everything it's it seems so counterintuitive to the way the world thinks and so he says in verse 16 though my outer man referring to the physical body though the outer man is decaying I am I am I look in the mirror and I go WOW I mean there's that I've paid a price for this yet our inner man is being renewed day by day so now look at verse 17 this is really where I want us for momen for momentary light affliction now just keep your finger right here turn over to chapter 11 of 2nd Corinthians 11 let me just show you this momentary light affliction chapter chapter 11 verse 23 2nd Corinthians 11:23 I'm in far more Labour's far more imprisonments beaten times without number often in danger of death hey that's not metaphorical that's that's real just read the book Acts 5 times I received from the Jews 39 lashes 40 would kill a man 39 would take you to the doorstep of death but you couldn't find escape from your pain because you would continue to live look at verse 25 three times I was beaten with rods once I was stoned can you even imagine three times I was shipwrecked a day and a night I have spent in the deep meaning just hanging onto a log I'm about to go under and the depths of the sea verse 26 I've been on frequent journeys in dangers from rivers dangers from robbers dangers from my countrymen just all the plots and the conspiracies to to capture Paul into and to just beat him to a pulp dangers from the Gentile time and he's catching it from both sides he caught it from his countryman that's Jews he's catching it from the Gentiles I mean there's no place to hide for Paul dangers in the city dangers in the wilderness in other words doesn't matter where I go there's danger lurking behind every corner whether I'm in a densely populated city or whether I'm out in the middle of nowhere there's shadows everywhere with being cast by people waiting to lay hold of me dangers on the sea dangers among false brethren verse 27 I have been in labor and this word for labor means exhaustion to the point that you have nothing left to give almost like an athlete on the track I can't even I just collapsed after the finish line I I can't there's not another stride left in me and hardship through many sleepless nights in hunger and thirst often without food in cold meaning I don't even have the proper clothing to stay warm an exposure just to all of the elements the exposure here is to the to the rain to the storms to the cold to to to that which would just cause your body to suffer greatly and then he says verse 28 apart from such ex internal things and his words on top of all of this here's the real trial the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches who is weak without me being weak who is led into sin without my intense concern if I have to boast I will boast of what pertains to my weakness this is so antithetical and counterintuitive to the way the natural man thinks that Paul has to say in verse 31 the God and father the Lord Jesus Christ was blessed forever knows that I am not lying I'm not blowing smoke this is real these are the afflictions that I've faced so now come back to chapter 4 so back to chapter 4 verse 17 Paul calls all of that catalogue that punch list he called it momentary light affliction I mean what he just laid out so far surpasses anything I'll ever experience and I would imagine anything you would ever experience of being pushed to the extremity verse 17 from momentary light affliction Paul how can you have that perspective how can you think that way he says is producing for us no there's a positive result an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison you know what the word gravitas means comes from the English it's a latin word comes from the english word gravity means weightiness people who are spiritually immature are just like tumbleweeds they're just blown about they're like the waves of the sea just tossed back and forth there's no anchor their feet are never really nailed to the floor there's no weightiness about their life they're very fickle they're they're subject to the latest opinion latest whim they're so easily led astray when trials blow into their life they I mean they're they're just scattered from here to wherever but gravitas means there is a weightiness about your life you you you're not wood hay and stubble you're gold silver and precious stones and when the winds of adversity blow into your life you're not blown about from here to the ends of the earth there's an anchor for your soul your feet are nailed to the floor you remain strong in the faith you are rooted and grounded deeply in the Lord you're not collapsing you're remaining strong that's what he is saying here and and and it is this momentary a light affliction that is producing the eternal weight of glory it's maturing you it's growing you up and what the reason Paul mentions all of this is that it's a part of your sanctification it's a part of your growing in the Grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ it's getting you in the game of life where you get blood on your Jersey and mud in your face and you're out there living the Christian life you're not a pretty boy up in the stands just just watching what's going on so let me just read it one last time verse 17 I just want this underscored for momentary light affliction that's that's how he refers to chapter 11 and the earlier part of this chapter he's producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison verse 18 while we look not at the things which are seen now that's what we tend to gaze upon right he says I'm not looking there I'm not fixed on that now Paul's looking both ways for it crosses the street and Paul is looking at his Bible and Paul does his eyes on things he's not oblivious to this to the trials around him he's just not fixated upon it well we do not look at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporal they're just light they're just passing but the things which are not seen are eternal some in this is saying we must remain focused upon the future glory that awaits us and I wish we had time to even trace out that future glory I've got a whole nother card under here on that but we don't have time for that but you can read revelation 21 and maybe we'll look at it when we meet in two weeks it's it's unbelievable this future glory it's not just pie in the sky it's it's unbelievable I I woke up early this morning I just went through revelation 21 first five verses of revelation 22 and I just wrote out seventeen descriptive words just to describe this future glory of what's awaiting us it's profound and if only from my own heart because I don't have time to share it but if only for my own heart it's worth it for me just to keep my focus on what it needs to be focused upon so I think I'm just gonna stop here and give us time to talk just a little bit about this but men this is this is like real to life this is where the rubber meets the road this is where we live in a fallen world surrounded by trials and death and sickness and failure and disappointment and we're not immune to that either our parents still die we still get sick we still suffer loss we still lose a job we still have a relationship that goes sour we still experience what unbelievers even experienced and on top of that we experience the things that only a believer experiences persecution tribulation nakedness in the sense of suffering for Christ being put to death all day long like sheep led to the slaughter that that's Christian martyrdom so on top of everything else the world experiences we have another layer now we've also had some problems removed we no longer are living our life in darkness and making moronic decisions we now have the mind of Christ in wisdom and and the lamp of Scripture leading us through this world and so there's also been the subtraction of some problems that we once had because we're no longer on the broad path perishing we're now on the narrow path headed to life so okay I'm gonna land the plane but let me tell you these are great verses they these are great verses and I need to hear myself say this you need to hear me say this because it's not me it's Paul but it's not Paul as Christ saying this so give me some thoughts give me some feedback give me give me your insight is this all Kent I don't know you're on alright so question often times we all suffer we suffer the non-christian suffers you know and often times we look at people who really don't know Christ who are going through great difficulties how do you how do you and we say how do they make it as a believer how do I look at it and say only through the Lord can I get through these great difficulties and trials yet there are people that don't really know him that say well I'm just gonna gut it up and go through it yet there's really no hope so I guess my question is as a believer how do we how do we communicate we talk to people all the time how do we communicate better our sufferings what we're going through to people and you say our influence to people that are also going through sufferings in this world that don't really know Christ but maybe even think they do now how do you how do we how do we carry through suffering as well yeah yeah but they're just that they don't have really any hope at all yeah how do how do we communicate when we have those opportunities well let me just say first of all that is the sweet spot for a golden opportunity for us to witness to someone I mean there is no more fertile soil than when that soil has been broken up through the affliction of suffering so we we need to be ready to step into that moment I think it really begins with we show compassion and we express genuine sorrow for them in their loss and we love them and we express our support and our encouragement and and our love I mean we don't show up and just start preaching job to them you know we don't show up and just start preaching a sermon we show up and sometimes just even being there communicates volumes but beyond just loving them and encouraging them and obviously the encouragement is somewhat shallow as to its reality because they don't know the Lord and they don't have the Lord but there's not a one-size-fits-all answer to this because every relationship is different and every hurt every unbeliever finds himself in a different setting I mean it can be anything from they just lost a job to a child committed suicide or I mean I mean there's a such a wide range and it requires extraordinary sensitivity on our part to know how to say the right thing in that moment but ultimately we want to point them to the Lord and we want to point them to the reality that this life is very short and that there is a world to come on the other side because they are now if they're ever going to be open to matters of eternity it's when they are in the midst of present suffering now what it depends on whether this is just a lost church member who has some orientation to scripture or whether this person has never darkened the door of a church that that's going to govern how you deal the deck I mean how you what you say and to build the bridge to them but ultimately there's only one way for them to come to know the Lord and that's for us to bear witness of the gospel of Christ now I want to say this there needs to be great sensitivity shown on our part and if it's the next-door neighbor I mean they're gonna be there if it's someone on an airplane flight you'll never see them again that's a whole different scenario but you I've learned this when people are like that you need to learn to listen you don't need to do all the talking especially initially you need to learn the skill of asking questions and for them to draw out of them and then you begin to respond they will say different things and the Holy Spirit will trigger your mind to pick out one or two things that you respond to and use that as a building point to now build a bridge for the gospel but I I think and and this is especially true with pastors and I've been a pastor for 34 years we just immediately want to go into preaching mode and and just here's what you need to know right now rather than so tell me how you doing how are you making it how can I pray for you I mean I'm here to listen and I'm here in some ways to stand with you and then to wait for the right time whether it's right now or whether it's tomorrow or whenever that is and sometimes it's it's like can my wife and I bring a meal to you tomorrow night I know your worlds has been turned upside down and you bring that meal and sometimes you just bring a book with that or a tract and just leave there this has been a great comfort to us and a lot of times I will ask would you mind if I read you a psalm I've never had anyone say no I don't want to hear a song and depending upon the setting or the situation you pick a song and the Psalms is like the universal language of the soul and in reading a psalm there there is even an initial scattering some seed but but you're you're you're building towards something so God God will give you what to say in that moment and that there have been so many times as a pastor I remember one time I did a funeral members in my church where the woman shot her husband dead and then she shot herself dead and I had to fly back in and do the funeral and talk to the daughters and I wasn't certain if the daughters knew the Lord and I mean you just that there's not a playbook always I mean sometimes it's just in the moment God gives you wisdom I mean you're reading their eyes you're reading their body posture or they may be resistant and hardened and so that brings about it yet a different response to me you know I think the Lord's trying to get your attention has he has has he gotten your attention I mean are you starting to see the things of this world or nothing has been taken from you but I wouldn't say that to someone else who's over here on the other side so there has to be a great sensitivity can't what else you got there you're not okay well I mean you can't be a martyr every day of your life I mean the ocean comes in the ocean goes out I mean the tide comes in the time comes out Ecclesiastes 3 there's a season for everything under the Sun there's a time to weep a time to laugh so every every moment of every day is not a time to weep I mean that there are good times there are bad times there's the mountaintop there's the valley there's prosperity there's adversity there's so if you're not suffering that doesn't mean you're an unbeliever if you're not suffering this very moment in this very second if you've never suffered for Christ I mean though that would be cause for like am i do I know the Lord in 2012 my 12 year old daughter attempted suicide for the first time then I had a heart attack and I have not worked or earned money consistently since my wife is keeping us afloat barely I'm now in school learning to be a pastor but there isn't a lot of pay and our washer and dryer are broken and one of the drain pipes of the house we own is leaking into the basement and not draining I had I was so encouraged by what you shared well thank you for reading that Kent and yeah I mean our our heart goes out to this brother and I think we've all been there in different ways I mean it may be a different kind of trial but we've all been knocked to our knees we've all been brought to the end of ourself we've all wondered I don't know how I'm gonna get to tomorrow and it's wonderful number one that this brother is watching our Bible study so that speaks volumes about where his heart is and that he's training to be a pastor yeah and I remember those days and you know you don't have a lot you know you eat a lot of air yeah great way to go on a diet so and I'm so encouraged to hear his response and he has probably responded better than if something happens to me later today then then I'll respond and I'm the one who brought the message I mean it's one thing to deliver the message there's something else to deliver it and and who knows what's going to wait each one of us today tomorrow next week it's been well said everyone and this goes back to the second question every one of us is either in suffering or we just came out of suffering or about to go into suffering so that that's just life there in a fallen world and we will look more carefully at this starting at verse 19 because verse 19 begins with word for and Paul is going to explain verse 18 that we just looked at and then after verse 18 verse 20 starts with a word the word for and he's going to explain verse 19 that was explaining verse 18 so he it's like this is unraveling but Paul is such a brilliant master teacher is he just keeps explaining the truth to us so we just want to soak it all up I knew once I read verses 18 through 22 that you were not going to listen fast enough okay so then I'm glad that we only looked at verse 18 and and will be here in two weeks and we'll look at verse 19 to 22 and we'll see how we do on this I'm so encouraged that you're here thank you that you're here some of you have made a great effort to be here others of you are regulars some of you are new I mean thank you I mean I sense a kindred spirit with you men and it's good for us iron sharpens iron one man another let me close in a word prayer father thank you for your goodness to us your mercy your patience thank you for your strengthening grace especially in the midst of our trials and difficulties and sufferings and Lord even here today unknown to the rest of us there are those of us who are going through deep waters I pray that this Bible study would be the the message of the hour for their heart and for those watching us wherever they are around the country overseas Lord take this and use this to minister much grace into their heart remind them that in their weakness your strength is made perfect it's a father I commit these men to your care and all those who are watching even ladies around the world and I pray that when we come back in two weeks it'll be even yet greater for our Christian life as we look more deeply in your word in Christ's name Amen amen men thank you so much be sure to get something from herbes yeah yeah yeah I was thinking I could wear a billboard I could wear a billboard make curbs great again yeah he's always been great he's never not been great you can't recover [Music]

Channel: OnePassionMinistries

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Id: O4szY3EtlUY

Length: 65min 52sec (3952 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 11 2018