Acts 14:19-28 Suffering and the Holy Spirit in the Life of a Disciple of Jesus
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Good morning Life church!!!!!!!!
Today we wrap up Acts 14 and officially are now over halfway through the book of Acts.
So, lets jump right into it shall we.
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But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having persuaded the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead. But when the disciples gathered about him, he rose up and entered the city, and on the next day he went on with Barnabas to Derbe. When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.
Then they passed through Pisidia and came to Pamphylia. And when they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia, and from there they sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work that they had fulfilled. And when they arrived and gathered the church together, they declared all that God had done with them, and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. And they remained no little time with the disciples.
WHY AM I SUFFERING WHEN I AM FOLLOWING JESUS?
HOW COULD GOD ALLOW THIS TO HAPPEN TO ME?
I THOUGHT BEING A CHRISTIAN MEANT MY LIFE WOULD BE GREAT!!
These and others are the questions we often ask when our life is turned upside down -
death of a loved one
suicide of a child
infertility
cancer
divorce / loss of a steady job / broken relationships / singleness / bad marriage
Persecution / beatings / loneliness / Anxiety /
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We are talking about suffering and its role in the life of a disciple of Jesus.
We are talking about suffering and its role in the life of a disciple of Jesus.
A few remarks first.
We do not all suffer in the same way. (Sickness, persecution, infertility, financially, depression, relationally, etc.)
Christianity does not promise an end of suffering in this life but, rather that in our suffering Christ will be with us and will give our suffering purpose.
Suffering in the saints is not evidence of righteousness or unrighteousness. It is simply the fact of this life.
God allows suffering in the life of His kids for multiple reasons.
Let’s look at the suffering of Paul and how he came to understand the Spirits work through his suffering.
Let’s look at the suffering of Paul and how he came to understand the Spirits work through his suffering.
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Paul’s Long List of Suffering -
Paul’s Long List of Suffering -
Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.
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Four Important Ways Paul Teaches us the Holy Spirit Works in and through Our Sufferings.
Four Important Ways Paul Teaches us the Holy Spirit Works in and through Our Sufferings.
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SUFFERING FORCES US TO RELY ON GOD AND NOT ON OUR SELVES OR OUR STRENGTHS.
SUFFERING FORCES US TO RELY ON GOD AND NOT ON OUR SELVES OR OUR STRENGTHS.
For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.
Divorced parents / bullied by my peers / poor and made fun of for it / Dislexia / Slow reader / Placed in LD classes - My strength was sports not academics or speaking.
God chose to work through my weakness so I would have to depend on him.
Infertility in the Scriptures - God is the way maker not our strength but His.
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GOD DEMONSTRATES THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT THROUGH OUR BROKENNESS.
GOD DEMONSTRATES THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT THROUGH OUR BROKENNESS.
But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you.
The Story of Gideon Judges 7 - Broken clay pots reveal the fire - Broken bodies reveal the Glory of the HS in us.
Your brokenness allows people to see the glory of God rather than your own glory.
In your brokenness the world is given a display of God’s goodness and glory.
Stop hiding the scars - the world needs to see that God heals.
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THE HOLY SPIRIT USES SUFFERING TO CONFORM US TO THE IMAGE OF JESUS.
THE HOLY SPIRIT USES SUFFERING TO CONFORM US TO THE IMAGE OF JESUS.
So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
To guard Paul from conceit God gave him a thorn or stake in the flesh.
To guard Paul from conceit God gave him a thorn or stake in the flesh.
For they say, “His letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech of no account.”
Through many beatings he was broken down physically
His speech too seems to have been affected and weakened
Luther speculated deep anxiety or mental and emotional torment over his previous persecution of the church.
Whatever it might be, it was given to him by God to keep him from being conceited.
God’s love for us is so complete he will use our sufferings to love the Hell out of us! And to love the image of Jesus into us.
God’s love for us is so complete he will use our sufferings to love the Hell out of us! And to love the image of Jesus into us.
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THE HOLY SPIRIT USES OUR SUFFERINGS TO REVEAL THE LOVE OF GOD TO US.
THE HOLY SPIRIT USES OUR SUFFERINGS TO REVEAL THE LOVE OF GOD TO US.
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Tried everything to make my dad proud and never seemed to do it.
Gave up and ran to drugs
Friends turned away / drug addicts eventually all turned away
In that suffering God spoke - Come!
The God who breathed the stars into existence spoke to me in my suffering.
Today God wants to reveal His love to you in the midst of your suffering / he is with you.
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For Paul Human Suffering Serves A Greater Purpose When It Is In The Hands of God.
For Paul Human Suffering Serves A Greater Purpose When It Is In The Hands of God.
Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
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What IS THE HOPE PAUL FINDS IN HUMAN SUFFERING? THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY AND THE END OF ALL SUFFERING.
What IS THE HOPE PAUL FINDS IN HUMAN SUFFERING? THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY AND THE END OF ALL SUFFERING.
Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
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God Desires to work through your suffering
God Desires to work through your suffering
He wants you to rely on Him and not your own power or the power of others.
God Desires to demonstrate the the world His power through Your brokenness.
The Holy Spirit Desires to use your suffering to confirm you into the image of Jesus.
God desires to demonstrate His love you through your suffering.
If you are suffering today, I invite you to come to the front - during worship.
Place your hands in front of you and pray, “Here is my suffering Lord, do with it as you please. Remove it or use it for your glory, all I ask is in my suffering, I come to know you and your love in a greater way.”
The message of Christ is not the end of suffering in this Life - But rather through Christ you are reconciled to God the Father, you are forgiven, and he is using your suffering to transform you into the image of Jesus.
A day is coming when He will return - the suffering of this world will be over - And you will have an eternity free of suffering!