saying will you tonight and thank you for those that can be here we pray that
you be with those that are in the Bahamas to this week and just watch over
them father and pray that you be with the congregation tonight as we we go
through your word and just bless the singing and it's in Jesus name I pray
amen okay next song is 127 his so sweet his so sweet right on the first his so
sweet
Precious Jesus, oh, for to trust him we need to trust in Jesus, just to trust his cleansing blood.
Just in time to meet the healing cleansing blood, such Jesus, how I trust him, how I prove him o'er us.
Precious Jesus, oh, for grace to trust him o'er justice we need to trust in Jesus, just from sin itself to cease.
Just from Jesus simply taking life and breath and joy and peace. Jesus, Jesus, how I trust him, how I prove him o'er Jesus.
Precious Jesus, oh, for grace to trust him o'er I'm so glad you trust me. Precious Jesus, Savior friend.
And I know that thou art with me, will be with me too. Jesus, Jesus, how I trust him, how I prove him o'er Jesus.
Precious Jesus, oh, for grace to trust him o'er I'm so glad you trust me.
We have our soul winning times for the week. And on the inside you'll see our service times. Sunday morning, Sunday evening, Wednesday evening.
We have our soul winning times listed there as well. We have our salvations for the year.
We obviously have not updated this from their work in the Bahamas. But as of Sunday, last Sunday, we had 2108 upcoming events.
We have the Bahamas Mission trip that is happening right now. October 12th, next Sunday, we'll have the men's preaching night.
October 18th is the fall family fun day, which I believe there was a sign-up sheet. Hopefully you've already signed up if you're going there.
October 19th, we'll have Pastor Aaron Thompson preaching for us. October 31st is the chili cook-off, which is always a good time.
November 22nd is the OKC Soul Winning Marathon. November 23rd, we'll have Pastor Shelley preaching for us, and then November 26th, we have a Pi Fellowship.
And then you'll have our prayer list here, the Bahamas Missions Trip, Theodore's family, his grandmother's cancer, grandmother's and sister's salvation,
the Houseburg family, Brother Miles Health, Mrs. Reed, our brother Cole's salvation, and then Zach Kauaja, mother and brother's salvation.
So there's some information on the family fun day there, and then on the back there is a place for notes.
So with that, let's just go to the Lord in prayer.
Father, we thank you again for tonight and for the ability for us to be here.
Father, we pray that you be with those that are in the Bahamas tonight and the rest of this week.
We pray that you bless their mission over there and be with them and walk with them, Father,
and just have your hand of protection over them.
We pray that you be with those that have family members on this list for their health and for their salvation.
Father, we pray that you open their hearts up to the salvation message
and help them to just accept the free gift of salvation.
Help soul winners to reach them, Father, and I just pray that you bless this church tonight
and help us to do everything decently and in order.
It's in Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
The third song is going to be in your white handouts. It is Psalm 139.
We now slay the wicked, surely thou slay the wicked or I,
Bloody men depart from e'er, Bloody men night them,
Oh, do not ever let them see, do not speak and see,
When you're lying in agency, do not be with perjury and deceit.
Please turn in your Bibles to 2 Timothy chapter 3.
You're going to read the whole chapter together.
This know also that in the last days perilous times shall come,
For men shall be lovers of their own selves,
Covetousness, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers,
Disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
Without natural affection, truth-breakers, false accusers,
Incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
Traitors, petty, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God,
Having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof,
From such turn away. For of this sort are they which creep into houses
And lead captive, silly women laden with sins, led away with diverse lusts,
Ever learning and never able to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
Now as Janus and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth.
Men of corrupt minds reprobate concerning the faith.
But they shall proceed no further, for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as theirs also was.
But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, face, long-suffering, charity, patience,
Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, Lystra,
What persecutions I endured, but out of them all the Lord delivered me.
Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution,
But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.
But continue thou in things which thou hast learned,
And hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them.
And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures,
Which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through the faith which is in Christ Jesus.
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine,
For reproof, for correction, for instruction, and righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect,
Thoroughly furnished unto all good works. Let's pray.
Father, I want to thank you for this church, for the people in it.
I want to thank you and ask you to be with those in the Bahamas.
I want to ask you to fill Brother Matt with your spirit,
And minimize distractions, and let us have a good service in Jesus' name. Amen.
Amen. Okay. Jeremiah, are we good on them? Are you picking up the lapel?
Okay, so we're there in 2 Timothy chapter number 3, which first of all I want to say thank you for the opportunity.
I want to thank Pastor Oz for the opportunity to preach tonight.
But also 2 Timothy chapter 3 is probably one of my favorite chapters in the Bible.
It is chock full doctrine. There is a lot of places we could go with 2 Timothy chapter 3.
I am sure some people are nervous about where we are going but we are going to look down at verse 10.
That is going to be where we are going to start.
Tonight's focus is going to be on the guarantee from the Bible that we are going to suffer persecution.
That we are going to suffer hard times, tribulations.
We are going to look at how the Bible teaches us to respond to those hard times and tribulations.
We will look down at verse 10.
It says, "But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, long-suffering, charity, patience, persecutions, afflictions,
which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra, what persecutions I endured.
But out of them all, the Lord delivered me. Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution."
So the Bible guarantees this. It says, "shall suffer persecution."
And a lot of you know what I do for a living, a little statutory interpretation for you.
"Shall" is a mandatory word. It means it will happen.
The opposite of "shall" is "may," meaning it's optional.
The Bible says, "Yea, all that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution."
So if you're living godly, it's going to happen. Expect it to happen.
Now let's look at how we're going to look tonight at how maybe we should respond to those situations.
And what our perspective should be as we go through those situations.
I'm not going to touch on every situation obviously, or every instance, or every moment in somebody's life
that could be interpreted as tribulation or persecution.
But I'm going to discuss four categories or types of trials that we may experience.
And that in each one, rather than a setback, we should look at it as an opportunity.
So when you're faced with a tribulation, a lot of people can look at that as like, oh poor me, have a poor me attitude.
But what we're going to see tonight out of the Bible is that when we're going through tribulations or hard times,
we should change our perspective and look at that as an opportunity to grow, not only as people in general,
but an opportunity to grow closer to Christ, an opportunity to grow closer to our brothers in Christ,
and just an opportunity to grow spiritually overall.
So we're going to look at a lot of Bible tonight, so just prepare for that and keep those pages turning.
So the first one we're going to look at, the first category tonight is Chastening from God.
And I include within this category of chastisement from God,
chastisement from a brother in Christ that is correcting us from the Word of God.
And I include that because when a brother comes to us and says,
hey, whatever the situation is, you're in the wrong, and here's the Bible verse or the doctrine that proves that.
You're being corrected by a brother in Christ through the Word of God.
So I can take that as, yes, my brother in Christ is correcting me, but I'm being corrected from the Bible.
I'm being corrected from the Word of God.
And that's kind of a form of correction or discipline from God is when we're corrected by a brother in Christ through the Word.
Turn, if you would, to Hebrews 12.
So, you know, of course, when you're going through correction or discipline or chastisement,
no one is happy while they're going through it.
It's not a good time.
And, you know, just like your children should probably not be having a good time when they're being disciplined.
You know, this is an aside, but if your child smiles after you discipline them or tries to fight you or laughs or something like that,
it's my opinion you probably didn't do it right.
It shouldn't be a good time. It shouldn't be enjoying discipline.
And that's, of course, not what I'm getting at tonight.
Of course, we should strive also so as not to need chastening from God.
But, of course, we're all sinners. We all fall short of the glory of God.
We're all going to need correction at times. That's just, it's going to happen.
And when we have that correction, when we get that correction,
we should have an attitude of thankfulness towards God.
Thankful that God loves us and corrects us when we need it.
Saving us from ourselves when otherwise we would fall into a ditch and ruin our lives, right?
Of course, we're not going to like it when it's happening.
We're not going to like it. It can, you know, be bitter when somebody corrects us
when we feel God's chastisement on us in the moment.
But then afterwards, when we get through that, we should be thankful that we have a God that loves us.
Just like children should be thankful they have parents that love them and correct them,
we should be thankful that God loves us and corrects us when we need it.
You're there in Hebrews 12 and look down at verse 5.
"And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as children.
My son despised not the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him.
For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons.
For what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not?
But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards and not sons.
Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence.
Shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of Spirits, and live?
For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure.
But he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.
Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous.
Nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.
So we see here, God's correcting us for our own profit, right?
It says in Hebrews 12 right there, it says, "But he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness."
And again, it says, it continues, chastening is not good in the moment, right?
It's not good in the moment, but it's for our betterment.
God loves us. He wants to see us be better Christians, grow closer to Him.
And afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.
And this is something we can be thankful for, is that it yields this peaceable fruit of righteousness in us
if we respond the right way, if we're exercised thereby.
If we recognize the correction, we take the correction with a good attitude
and then adjust whatever we're doing to fit the Word of God.
And we're exercised thereby, meaning we're adjusted or that portion of our life is that we were in sin
and then we exercised that sin away from us.
Think of like, I guess, the word exorcism, right?
It's like out of us now.
But you will afterward yield the peaceful fruit of righteousness
so long as you recognize the correction, repent from the wrongdoing, and turn back to the Word, right?
So turn to Psalm 94.
And again, we see in Hebrews 12, you know, it says, "For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth."
Right there, that's something to be thankful for, right?
That's something God loves us, he chastens us.
In Revelation 319, Jesus says, "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Be zealous therefore and repent."
So again, in Revelation 319, we see when we're chastened by God, we need to be zealous
and we need to repent from whatever is causing us to be chastened.
In Psalm 94, look down at verse 12.
It says, "Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O Lord, and teachest him out of thy law."
Blessed is the man that is chastised by God, because we're sons of God.
Blessed are we, right?
Again, don't twist it where I'm saying we should enjoy the chastening,
but we're still blessed to be chastened by God that he loves us enough
to correct our lives when we're out of line.
And then the second part of that, "And teachest him out of thy law."
So this is an opportunity when we get chastised.
We're going to be taught something.
When we're chastised, you're hoping when you discipline your children
that they learn something from that.
They don't continue doing the thing they're doing.
And so when God chastises us, he teaches us out of thy law.
So it's an opportunity for us to learn from the Word of God what that instruction is,
what that discipline is supposed to be.
The opportunity here when we're chastised is to get further into the Word
and take that opportunity to learn God's instruction for us and grow from it.
Let's turn to Proverbs 6.
Sorry if I'm talking fast.
I took brother Zach's method tonight and I drank a cup of coffee.
We're there in Proverbs 6. We're going to look at a lot of Proverbs tonight.
Proverbs 6, verse 23, "For the commandment is a lamp and the law is light,
and reproofs of instruction are the way of life."
The instruction that we receive when we're chastised from God,
the number one thing we need to do is get in the Word
and figure out what God is trying to get us right here.
This is where we're going to get it.
It says, "The law is light and reproofs of instruction are the way of life."
So we have another connection right there between the law, God's Word,
and the reproofs of instruction being,
"Get in God's Word, take the opportunity to learn and grow."
Proverbs 8.33 reads, "Hear instruction and be wise and refuse it not."
Proverbs 12.1, "Who so loveth instruction loveth knowledge,
but he that hateth reproof is brutish."
When we're approved by God, when we're approved by God's Word,
you know, you see this with kids sometimes when they get disciplined,
they hate it, right?
They'll try to fight you or whatever, or they won't take the correction,
and that's a childish thing to do.
Don't be childish when God's correcting you.
Take that opportunity to learn from it.
Take that opportunity to grow from it.
Be thankful for it, because God loves you, and that's why He's doing it.
If you're not getting chastised, then are you bastards and not sons?
Be thankful that we're sons of God, that God loves us and chastises us.
Turn back to 2 Timothy 3.
Job 15-17 reads, "Behold, happy is the man whom God corrected.
Therefore, despise not the chastening of the Almighty."
So it's all over the Bible talking about this.
Be happy when thou chastise.
Don't despise it.
Take the correction.
In 2 Timothy 3 verse 16, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine,
for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works."
So again we see when we receive the chastisement of God,
it's the opportunity to get in the Word and receive the instruction from the Word of God
so that he may yield that peaceable fruit of righteousness that we were talking about,
that he can correct us from ruining our lives in some way
and get us back in the right direction with God.
So point one is that we should be thankful when we receive the chastisement from God
and see it as an opportunity to grow.
So point one, chastisement from God, opportunity to grow.
Point two is, or the second category I guess that I want to talk about this evening,
is when we suffer affliction from others.
You know, this is obviously isn't the chastisement from God, affliction from others, right?
We talked about that, I included that in the first category of when a brother corrects us according to the Word.
This is, I want to distinguish that from this second category,
which is a situation in maybe we feel like, you know, a brother has offended us,
or someone at work has offended us, or someone just in our general life has done something,
and trespassed against us in some way.
I also want to distinguish this category from persecution from the wicked,
or affliction for righteousness sake, which is another category we'll talk about later.
This is just sort of your run-of-the-mill slight from someone in your life,
whether that, you know, if we were kids, it'd be like you didn't get invited to the birthday party,
or, you know, someone's talking about you, or someone's undermining you at work.
We actually, we deal with this a lot in my profession,
where, you know, people that work together see each other as threats,
and so then they start trying to undermine each other,
and a lot of backbiting, and that kind of thing.
I would include that in this category.
Turn, if you would, to Matthew chapter 5.
I think the first thing we need to do when we feel like we've been offended by somebody,
or feel like we've been wronged in some way,
is to check ourselves and determine,
"Is this something that I actually should be mad about, or am I just being sensitive?"
That's probably the first thing I would recommend.
Is this something that's really bothering me, or is this just me being a little too sensitive here?
But let's say you're not being too sensitive,
that this is something legitimately offensive or legitimately against you.
Look down in Matthew, you're in Matthew chapter 5, look down at verse 38.
"You have heard that it hath been said, 'An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.'
But I say unto you, that ye resist not evil, but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.
And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also.
And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.
Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee, turn not thou away.
Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy.
But I say unto you, Love your enemies. Bless them that curse you.
Do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.
So, it seems like, I guess it's a natural instinct, or a fleshly instinct for us to want to get revenge when somebody does something to us, or offends us.
We want to get them back in some way. We want to do something to them, and show them, like, "You can't mess with me," or something.
And I submit to you that a lot of times that's just pride that is working in you, and that that's not the right, that's not really the right response.
Jesus is teaching here to love our enemies. I do want to point out, it says, "Love your enemies." Right?
It's not talking about God's enemies here. It's your enemies. Right? I do want to point that out.
But Jesus is teaching us to love our enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you.
And so this sometimes can be hard because, like I said, the instinct, the natural instinct is to get somebody back.
And avenge yourselves. Right? But that's not what the Bible is saying. The Bible is not telling us to do that.
Turn, if you would, to 1 Peter 3. Ephesians 4.32 reads, "And be ye kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you."
And we see that same concept repeated in Colossians 3. If you're in 1 Peter 3, look down at verse 9. Let me get there.
1 Peter 3 verse 9, "Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing, but contrawise blessing, knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing."
So here, you know, the Bible is telling us, don't render evil for evil. Just because somebody is doing something to you, or, you know, trying to undermine you in some way,
or doing something, whether that be at work, whether that be in, you know, just in general life, they are, you know, they're rendering evil to you.
The Bible is telling us, render evil for evil. Two wrongs don't make a right. This is that in the Bible.
Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing, but contrawise blessing, knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing.
Turn to Proverbs 16. We're going to take another quick trip through Proverbs, Bible study.
Proverbs 16, 32. He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.
One chapter forward, Proverbs 17, verse 9. He that covereth the transgression seeketh love, but he that repeateth the matter separeth very friends.
Proverbs 19, one page over, verse 11. The discretion of a man defereth his anger, and it is his glory to pass over a transgression.
That anger when you feel when you've been slighted or that urge to take revenge, again that's pride working in you.
That is a temptation, that is a fleshly temptation to try and get somebody back.
But the Bible is telling us to defer our anger. Consider passing over a transgression of a brother.
Finally, in Proverbs 25, if just simply loving your brother wasn't enough to pass over the transgression,
if just going through Proverbs and seeing we should defer our anger when that stuff happens,
Proverbs 25, verse 21, "If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink.
For thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, and the Lord shall reward thee."
So in Proverbs, the previous verses we read, it was telling us to pass over transgression.
Here it's saying, you know, when they curse you, when they do evil unto you, this is saying,
"Give him bread to eat; if he be thirsty, give him water to drink; for thou shalt keep coals of fire upon his head."
So by being a blessing to somebody that is cursing you and doing evil unto you,
you're heaping coals of fire upon their head.
And I think we can all relate to this, like if we've ever wronged somebody or something,
and then they turn around and do something nice for us, right?
We all get that pit in our stomach like, "Oh man, I'm a terrible person."
Like, "That guy did a blessing for me; I did him wrong."
You know, that's that conscience. If you have a conscience anyway, you know, that's how you feel.
That's that coals of fire upon their head.
When they're doing evil for you, and you continue, as the Word of God says, to bless them that curse you,
do good unto them that do evil unto you, you're heaping coals of fire on their head.
So, even if the love of your brother wasn't enough to pass over the transgression,
then being a blessing to your brother, even when they're not to you, you're heaping coals of fire upon their head.
And then, you know, look at that last part of verse 21.
It said, "And the Lord shall reward thee." So let God reward you for passing over transgression
and being a blessing even to your enemies.
And even if we have felt slighted from a friend, we see the Bible teaches that it's still an opportunity
to receive blessings from the Lord if we handle it according to Scripture.
So even when you feel like you've been afflicted by somebody in your life for some reason or another,
that you feel like they've done evil unto you, it's still an opportunity to do something
according to God's Word and receive blessings from the Lord if we handle it according to Scripture.
So again, we saw the first one, chastening of the Lord, opportunity to do something great.
Number two, turn if you would to Galatians 5.
But number two, afflictions from others that maybe we don't deserve or we're suffering wrongfully.
Again, an opportunity according to the Word of God to receive blessings from the Lord.
And now that's passing over the transgressor.
If you feel that you need to say something, which again I would suggest checking yourself before you go to that person or something like that.
If you feel like you do need to say something, consider thyself before doing so and approach your brother or the other person in the spirit of meekness and longsuffering and bearing one another.
Galatians 522 but the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.
Against such there is no law and they that are Christ have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the spirit, let us also walk in the spirit. Let us not be desirous of vainglory, which put a pen right there.
The vainglory is you taking a vengeance for yourself, right? Because that's that's you. That's the flesh taking an opportunity to get somebody back.
What good is that's vainglory. You are you feel good about that. That's not according to God's scripture. That's vainglory when you do something like that, right?
Provoking one another, envying one another. Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such in one in the spirit of meekness.
Considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.
And look, don't twist what I'm saying. I'm not saying that we shouldn't rebuke someone when they are in sin or involved in something egregious.
Of course we should do that. Of course we should rebuke someone that's in sin, especially an egregious sin.
What I'm talking about are these little slights that we seem to deal with in our general lives on a weekly basis,
sometimes on a daily basis where somebody didn't hold the door open for us, or something maybe not that small,
but I think you guys understand what I'm talking about, that set the stage for the little things that build up over time
and we start to become bitter to a person because of it, and eventually we have overly dramatic confrontations
that are disproportionate to the actual transgressions, because we've bottled that up and we've held that in
and we've become bitter over it. When the Bible is telling us let it go, cover a transgression,
be kind to those that are evil against us, and the Lord shall reward thee.
Turn if you would to 1 Peter 2.19, "For this is thank worthy if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully.
For what glory is it if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently?
But if, when ye do well and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God."
So again, we see God, when we suffer wrongfully and with patience, it's acceptable to God.
So again, when we're afflicted by others, it's an opportunity to respond the right way and do something that is acceptable to God.
If it is a bad enough trespass that you think, "Man, I really need to say something here. This is pretty bad.
This is getting out of hand," or whatever, Matthew 18 provides a process by which to do so.
And I'm not going to go into the full process, but I do want to turn, if you would, to Matthew 18.
I want to focus on that first step, and we'll again see an opportunity in this situation, if the offending party is applying the first category,
where a brother corrects us according to the word, we'll see the opportunity in Matthew 18 that we're looking for.
So we'll go to Matthew 18, verse 15, "Moreover, if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone.
If he shall hear thee, thou hast gained a brother." Thou hast gained thy brother.
So again, if we do have a big enough issue that we need to go to our brother and talk about this.
Go and tell him his fault between he and thee alone.
And if he shall hear thee, like we talked about in the first category, we go to our brother and we say,
Hey, you did this, here's the word of God telling this was wrong or whatever. And our brother hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.
So there's an opportunity right there when we're wrongfully afflicted.
If we respond in the way the scripture is telling us to respond, we have an opportunity to gain thy brother.
So again, affliction, opportunity.
So the second point here is that even when a friend or brother offends us, let's not be tempted by our own pride to get them back and avenge ourselves.
Instead, as we have seen, hopefully, let us look at it as an opportunity to be a blessing to our brother,
to potentially receive rewards from the Lord, and an opportunity to so fulfill the law of Christ.
Don't look at it as like, "Poor me. Oh, I don't know why this person hates me." It doesn't matter.
It doesn't matter, right? Continue to be a blessing to people through the Word of God,
and use that as an opportunity to so fulfill the law of Christ.
So, first point, chasing from God, opportunity to grow.
Second point, wrongful afflictions from others, opportunity to fulfill the law of Christ
and be a blessing to that person, even if we don't want to.
It's an opportunity to do something acceptable to God.
The third category that we'll talk about is life in general, when things go wrong in general.
Whether you're going through a hard time, difficult situation, whether it be a thorn in the flesh
or a shipwreck or all the things that Paul went through, you're just going through it.
I don't know, I saw a video on, I don't remember what news site it was,
but there was a video of a guy that got in a wreck in a river somewhere up north by Jones.
It's pretty hilarious, you guys should watch it.
They interviewed the guy and he was like, "I was going through it. I was going through it."
He was out there for like four hours or something, I don't know, but he was like, "I was going through it."
You guys were going through it, alright? Turn to Psalm 50.
But again, when we're going through it, we should approach those times as an opportunity to glorify God.
Psalm 50 verse 15, "And call upon me in the day of trouble, I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me."
So again, right off the bat, Psalm 50, when we're in the day of trouble, when we're going through it,
God promises, "I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me."
So even in times of trouble, it's an opportunity that if we approach it the right way,
and we have the right perspective, and we approach it according to the Word of God,
it's an opportunity to glorify God.
So again, another opportunity even though, first blush, we're going through a difficult time.
Romans 8.28 also teaches us that we know all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them who are called according to his purpose.
Nahum 1.7, the Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble, and he knoweth them that trust in him.
Trust in the Lord and call upon him in the day of trouble,
and trust that he's going to see you through any trials, any difficulties in your life.
Have the right perspective, have faith, right?
Philippians 4.6, be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication.
With thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God.
And the peace of God, which passes all understanding,
shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
So, be careful for nothing.
I mean, I think we've talked about Philippians 4.6 before,
but in this context it's like, yeah, I'm going through a difficult time,
but I'm going to have faith that God is going to carry me through this difficult time.
I'm not going to trust my own understanding because it says,
"And the peace of God which passeth all understanding."
I'm not going to understand it sometimes.
I'm just going to have faith that God will deliver me because He promises,
"Call upon Me in the day of trouble, I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me."
I'm going to have faith that God's going to be there.
I'm going to have faith that in my day of trouble God's going to be right there helping me through.
We're not asked to go through life alone, on our own. We can't.
God is with us and shelters us and provides for us if we trust Him and bring it to Him.
And in our weakest moments, sometimes when we're at the bottom, sometimes when we're really going through it,
we are able to see God's provisions for us even more clearly if we look for it and we trust Him to get us through it.
We're able to see it. Stop leaning on your own understanding and bring your difficult time to God.
Glorify God in those moments that He's able to carry you through this.
Sometimes, for example, in some of my weakest moments, I've been overwhelmed with love and support,
and I've been able to actually sit back and realize, "Man, how blessed am I?"
Look at all these people that are supporting me.
Look at all these blessings that I have.
Look at whatever God's blessed me with to get me through that time.
Don't think of it as you did that, you didn't do that.
God provided you a way to do that.
God provided that support for you.
God provided that family for you.
God provided, whether it be my wife, my children, my church family,
my immediate family, my work family, whatever it is,
you know, that's a time where those gifts from God
that God's provided for you are magnified.
If you just sit back and realize how much God has provided for you in your life
and what actually matters in life, you're able to--
it's no wonder the psalm says, "Glorify me," right?
Because we're sitting there in the lowest point of our life,
and if we have the right perspective, if we look for the blessings in life
and what really matters, then what really hits home, how blessed am I, right?
Look at this. Look at all this that God has provided for me.
Even though I'm in my weakest moment, I have the love and support of these people,
whoever it may be or whatever it may be.
If we're living according to the Word of God, God will bless us in that way
and we'll be able to focus on those blessings in those times,
and of course we will glorify God in those times.
And if at all possible, this I think flows into this next part,
if you go to 2 Corinthians 7, Paul's approach to his infirmities, right?
2 Corinthians 7, Paul describes a thorn in his flesh,
and then in verse 8 he says, "For though I made you..."
Oh wait, sorry, it doesn't seem right. I'll just read it from here.
It's not 2 Corinthians 7, so sorry about that.
He says, "For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.
And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee.
For my strength is made perfect in weakness.
Most gladly therefore will I rather rejoice in my infirmities,
that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Therefore I take pleasure in my infirmities,
in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake.
For when I am weak, then am I strong."
So Paul is explaining that even though these infirmities, though these persecutions
and hard times, God is able to perfect us and make us strong.
And back to that first point, when I am weak, then am I strong,
I'm able to see God's provision for me and see how strong God really is
and how much that He's provided for me, even in my weakest moments.
And so again, when we're going through those times, whatever it may be,
we can look around and glorify God. It's an opportunity, right?
So even when we're going through hard times, if we have the right perspective,
that's an opportunity to glorify God, to grow closer to God,
to lean on God, to lean on the promises of strength and company,
and lean on the promises that God will deliver us out of those times.
It's an opportunity. Don't look at it as a detriment.
Have a change of perspective in how you view it.
And again, I'm not talking about any specific instance or anything like that,
but sometimes it's really hard when we go through hard situations,
and it's really hard to get out of.
And it's really hard to change our perspective on those things.
But God gives us hope here.
God gives us hope that He's going to deliver us, and we can lean on that.
We can lean on those that love us.
We can lean on our church families.
And even though it may take time, God will deliver us, and He promises that.
And He shows us every day how blessed we are.
And if we can change our perspective for when we're going through hard times,
and even if that's after the hard times, we look back and see,
"Man, God bless me, even though I was going through it.
God bless me.
Glorify God."
Again, opportunity to glorify God, to get in His Word, to lean on Him,
and to grow closer to God and fulfill God's plan for our lives.
So that's category three.
We've seen God's chastisement, opportunity to grow.
Wrongful affliction from others, opportunity to so fulfill the law of Christ.
Opportunity to continue being a blessing, to continue to fight that flesh.
An opportunity there, that's a clear opportunity to fight the flesh, right?
Build those muscles up so we can fight that guy.
And number three, you know, even when we're going through hard times in our lives,
category three, still we have the perspective of this is an opportunity to glorify God.
And so, I feel like I'm going way fast, but I need like some aside stories, you know?
But anyway, category four, affliction from the wicked.
When we're persecuted for Christ's sake, when we're persecuted for righteousness sake.
This is the last category.
You know, and I think it's a soul winning church that is right on the gospel and preaches the whole council of God.
You know, we've kind of got this category down pat.
We know how this happens. We see this almost daily.
And we've got a poster of it, right?
We're going to suffer persecution. We shall suffer persecution.
And so we will suffer persecution from the wicked.
And I'm not going to spend too much time setting it up.
If you would, turn to Daniel 3.
What I want to focus on with this category is that
affliction from the wicked is expected when you are right with God.
And that affliction from the wicked presents an opportunity to do something great for God.
But more importantly, it presents an opportunity for God to work something great through you.
If we are willing to endure the hardship.
When afflictions come, we shouldn't cower away, but we should stand bold in Christ,
having faith that God will deliver us from the evil.
We're in Daniel 3. We're going to look at verse 16.
One of my all-time favorite stories in the Bible, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
We see verse 16, this story of these three men in the fiery furnace.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, verse 16.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king,
"O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter.
If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace,
and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O King.
But if not, be it known unto thee, O King, that we will not serve thy gods,
nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.
So these three men are being persecuted because they're not bowing down to Nebuchadnezzar's golden image.
And Nebuchadnezzar is going to cast them into the furnace, right?
And they're being persecuted, obviously, for righteousness sake.
But by remaining steadfast in their faith, right,
they provided a means for God to work one of the most well-known miracles in the Bible.
They could have stopped after being arrested.
They could have said, "Man, we stood up to Nebuchadnezzar.
He arrested us, and then we backed down and went home."
And they could have tried to de-escalate the situation and avoid the fiery furnace
and still had that story of suffering the persecution of being arrested, right,
and facing Nebuchadnezzar.
But they didn't stop there.
They didn't simply rely on their own abilities when they're being persecuted from evil.
They didn't simply, you know, "Yeah, we stood up to Nebuchadnezzar and we got arrested,
and then we went home."
They continued.
They hit the persecution from Nebuchadnezzar, and then they told him,
"Be it known unto thee, O King, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image."
And so by continuing, even after suffering some persecution,
by continuing with and staying steadfast in their faith,
they provided God with the opportunity to work a miracle in their life.
It was no longer up to them. Nebuchadnezzar's putting them in the fire.
It's not like those three men could be like, "Well, I'm not going to burn."
Right? They can't stop it.
Those men, the flesh, can't stop themselves from burning.
That has to be a miracle from God.
And by staying steadfast, by enduring the persecution of Nebuchadnezzar,
those men presented God with an opportunity to do something amazing.
They presented God with the opportunity to work a miracle.
And so staying in Daniel and going to chapter 6,
we see a similar story with Daniel and the lion's den.
And how after the decree was made by the king,
that anyone found praying should be cast into the lion's den,
that Daniel continued praying to God as he had done before,
and that the king's men found him and demanded that he be cast into the lion's den.
The king did so, and as we know, God delivered Daniel from the lion's den.
Again, Daniel remaining steadfast in his faith towards God
allowed God to work this miracle in Daniel's life.
Daniel couldn't shut up the lion's mouth, right?
Daniel couldn't fight a lion. I mean, who's going to fight a lion?
But by remaining steadfast and enduring that persecution,
pushing through that persecution where we get up to the persecution that we can handle,
us individually can handle, and we stop a lot of times.
But what these two stories are saying, don't stop, even if you don't think you can handle it,
because God can handle it. And by doing something like that,
once you push through those things that you feel like you can handle, right,
then you'll see God work in your life and present God with an opportunity
to do something that you didn't even think you were maybe capable of,
maybe you weren't capable of, right?
If Daniel stands up to these lions, Daniel's not capable of standing up to lions.
Daniel relied on God, and God did something that Daniel wasn't capable of.
So when we hit that persecution, keep going.
Don't stop. Don't rely on yourself to get out of it.
Let God get you through it.
Psalm 34, 19, "Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
but the Lord delivereth him out of them all."
So the focus there, many are the afflictions of the righteous.
Hopefully that's us. Hopefully we're the righteous.
We're going to have many afflictions.
Second part of that song, "The Lord delivereth him out of them all."
Not us. We're not going to deliver ourselves out of the persecution sometimes.
The Lord's going to deliver us out of it.
If we live or strive to live godly, we will suffer persecution for Christ's sake.
But let us not cower or shrink just at the meeting of that persecution.
Let us not hit some persecution and stop.
Let us not get to that wall of adversity and stop going.
Because we don't think we're capable of handling anything further.
We don't have to worry about us. We're not the ones that are going to do it anyway.
God's going to deliver us out of that.
Continue it in our faith and what we're doing and focusing on Christ
and preaching the gospel and living according to the scripture.
When we hit that adversity, we shouldn't stop but push through it
and let God work a miracle in our lives potentially.
If we want to do something great for God, again, we're guaranteed to meet persecution.
Many stop when they hit it and focus simply on the fact that they went so far as to receive persecution.
We preach the gospel. We do all this stuff. We're living righteously.
We hit persecution and we kind of dance with it a little bit and then some people stop.
That's fine. I guess you will still receive the rewards in heaven for living righteously
and for receiving that persecution, but don't focus on the persecution.
Just run right by it. Let it happen and keep going. Endure the persecution.
Press forward and focus on continuing the work in Christ despite the persecution.
Keep the focus on Christ, not on the bad things that are coming,
not on the bad things that are happening. Keep our focus on Jesus.
Keep our focus on the gospel and living godly for Christ.
And God will see us through whatever is going on over here,
whatever is going on in the persecution. See how far God can take you.
Just focusing on God. See how far He'll take you.
You know, this, this, it's kind of, turn to Matthew 14.
Again, I love this story. I think I've used this story before.
Because it, Matthew 14 is a story of Peter walking out on the water to Christ.
So, Matthew 14, 30, 28, 27, somewhere in there.
You know, the disciples are on the ship.
There's a, there's stormy, the wind, the waves are hitting the ship.
And they look out and they see Jesus walking on the water.
And, you know, and Peter answered him and said, "Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water."
And he said, "Come." And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water to go to Jesus.
But when he saw the wind, boisterous, he was afraid.
And beginning to sink, he cried, "Lord, save me!"
And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand and caught him and said unto him,
"O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?"
And when they came into the ship, the wind ceased.
So what I'm going to focus on here is verse 30, right?
Where did my thing go?
Verse 30, when did Peter begin to sink?
When he took his eyes off Christ and saw the wind was boisterous.
When he started focusing on the craziness that's around him,
and he started to worry and doubt and fear,
he took his eyes off Christ and he began to sink.
So I submit to you, don't take your eyes off Christ.
Even when you're standing in the middle of a storm,
and you're going through it, continue to focus on Christ and doubt not.
Don't focus on the wind, the boisterous wind that's all around you.
Don't focus on people are saying things or I'm going through persecution
because X, Y, or Z, I'm living godly and stuff keeps happening.
Don't focus on that. You'll start to sink. Don't focus on that.
You'll start to be afraid. Focus on Christ. Don't sink.
Don't take away an opportunity because you're scared to have God work a miracle in your life
by doing something you don't think you're capable of.
You probably aren't capable of. In fact, you're not capable of.
Don't take away an opportunity from God to do something amazing in your life
by focusing on everything that's going on around you and taking your eyes off of Christ.
Turn to John 16. It's like hitting a wall. It's like hitting a persecution wall
where we're working towards doing something great for God, and then boom, we hit a wall.
We hit that persecution wall. Something bad happens because we're living godly.
We could stop. We could simply fixate on the fact that, hey, we hit the wall.
Hey, we're getting persecuted. We've come this far.
We've come so far as to hit the wall and be persecuted.
We've lived godly so far enough that we're starting to get some attention.
The wicked are coming after us. We can focus on that.
But I submit to you that we should just run straight through that wall.
Don't focus on the persecution. Don't focus on the bad things coming around.
Just continue to preach the Gospel. Continue to preach the Word of God, the entire Council of God.
Continue to run straight forward and run straight through that wall of adversity.
And let God do things that only God is capable of doing and deliver you out of that.
You're in John 16. Look at verse 33.
"These things I have spoken unto you, that in me you might have peace in the world.
You shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world."
Jesus has overcome the world and will be there when we face the trials, when we face tribulations,
when we hit that wall of adversity. Let us be of good cheer and have peace when we face adversity,
when we face tribulations, when we face persecutions. We shouldn't focus on those and be scared, be afraid.
Let us have peace knowing that Christ has already overcome this, and He will overcome it again,
and again, and again. It will get us through those times of trouble when we're being afflicted for righteousness sake.
Isaiah 41.10 reads, "Fear thou not, for I am with thee not dismayed, for I am thy God.
I will strengthen thee, yea, I will help thee, yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness."
Isaiah 40.30, "Even the youth shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall.
But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles,
they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint.
Let us not faint when we hit adversity, or be weary when the persecution comes,
but stand bold and run through that wall of tribulation,
and provide God with the opportunity to do what He is capable of."
Not what we're capable of, but what He is capable of.
When we hit that wall and we stop, we're afraid that we won't be able to withstand it.
We won't be able to run through that wall.
We won't be able to handle whatever is on the other side of that wall.
But we don't have to lean on our own capabilities, lean on God's capabilities.
Trust that He will get you through that.
So, in conclusion, as we face adversities throughout our lives,
regardless of the category or type, let us always allow it to bring us closer to God.
Let us always see it as an opportunity to grow, an opportunity to be a blessing to someone,
an opportunity to glorify God in however He's helping us,
an opportunity to give to God to do something that we never even thought possible.
But if we stop, if we don't give God that opportunity, we'll never know.
So we went through four categories. I tried to keep them broadish.
But God's chastening? Opportunity.
Wrongful affliction from others? Opportunity.
Hard times in life in general? Opportunity.
Persecution from the wicked? Opportunity.
If we change our perspective and don't have this poor me attitude
when bad things happen, we could turn that into opportunities
for the betterment of ourselves, for the betterment of our families,
for the betterment of the glorifying of God,
and for the cause of Christ.
They're all opportunities if we just look at them the right way
and live our lives according to the Word of God.
James 1-2 reads, "My brethren, count it all joy
when you fall into divers temptations,
knowing this, that the trying of your faith work is patience,
but let patience have her perfect work,
that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing."
And we'll finish where we started in 2 Timothy 3 verse 16,
"All scripture is given by inspiration of God,
and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction,
for instruction in righteousness,
that the man of God may be perfect,
throughly furnished unto all good works."
Let God have His perfect work in your life.
Let God, let the Word of God,
when you face trials and tribulations,
show you how to respond to those.
And let God, and the Word of God,
have His perfect work in you,
and mold you into what God wants for you,
and teaches us through here.
Be patient and endure persecution,
push through the wall of adversity,
welcome hard times,
study to show yourself approved,
and in all, have faith that God will uphold thee
with the right hand of His righteousness.
Let us pray.
Father, we thank You for tonight
and for the ability to gather in Your name.
Father, I pray that You help us have the right perspective
as we face difficult times in our lives.
Whatever it may be, let us always glorify You
and take that opportunity to learn from Your Word
and to further the cause of Christ.
I just pray that You be with everyone as they go home tonight
and keep us all safe and just bless us
and we love You and we thank You.
It's in Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Alright, now I'm going to sing a song.
Let me get that one.
Grab your hymnals.
Number 27, "The Old Rugged Cross."
Sing it out so they don't hear me.
[singing "The Old Rugged Cross"]