1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:06,840 Search for peace, I search for hope, I search for love, and one 2 00:00:06,880 --> 00:00:12,160 day for release. God give me strength to accept 3 00:00:12,280 --> 00:00:19,440 the things that I just cannot know, that even when I lose 4 00:00:19,440 --> 00:00:23,240 control, I will not let. You go. 5 00:00:27,400 --> 00:00:30,360 Good morning. My name is Daniel. 6 00:00:30,360 --> 00:00:31,760 I am one of the lead. Pastors. 7 00:00:31,760 --> 00:00:34,040 Here at Res Church, welcome if you're visiting, welcome. 8 00:00:34,040 --> 00:00:37,520 We are in the last and final week of our series, Sound Mind. 9 00:00:37,520 --> 00:00:42,000 We are in week 6 of a series about mental health and the 10 00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:44,560 intersection between mental health and our faith, where 11 00:00:44,560 --> 00:00:46,520 we've been. Opening the Bible and looking at 12 00:00:46,520 --> 00:00:48,400 hope. For all of these different 13 00:00:48,400 --> 00:00:51,800 afflictions and things. That we, we are particularly in, 14 00:00:51,800 --> 00:00:55,080 I think more modern culture, have begun to define and talk 15 00:00:55,080 --> 00:00:58,640 through anxiety and depression, hopelessness, burnout. 16 00:00:59,120 --> 00:01:02,240 And so today, as we finish up the series, we're going to talk 17 00:01:02,240 --> 00:01:05,400 about hope for helping others, what it looks like to walk with 18 00:01:05,400 --> 00:01:08,040 others through their suffering, to walk with others through 19 00:01:08,040 --> 00:01:11,120 their affliction. And so I hope this has been 20 00:01:11,120 --> 00:01:13,200 transformative for you. We, we've had some really 21 00:01:13,200 --> 00:01:15,800 phenomenal conversations. We've seen God work in powerful 22 00:01:15,800 --> 00:01:19,120 ways through the series as we have continued to go back to the 23 00:01:19,120 --> 00:01:22,800 Bible to talk about what God says about these issues and 24 00:01:22,800 --> 00:01:25,600 dealing with them. May 31st, which is about, I 25 00:01:25,600 --> 00:01:27,840 don't know, 8-8 days ago. Yeah, about 8 days ago. 26 00:01:28,320 --> 00:01:31,440 May 31st is my daughter Dansley's 13th birthday. 27 00:01:31,920 --> 00:01:35,960 And Dansley is. Her birthday is only 14 months 28 00:01:35,960 --> 00:01:39,520 after Kaya, my third daughter, and Quentin is 14 months after 29 00:01:39,520 --> 00:01:41,760 that. So I think if it's under like 16 30 00:01:41,760 --> 00:01:43,200 months, they call them Irish twins. 31 00:01:43,200 --> 00:01:44,880 So I guess I have Irish triplets. 32 00:01:44,880 --> 00:01:50,840 Is that how that works? So Dansley was, so it was a. 33 00:01:50,840 --> 00:01:56,760 Friday, and it was the day before my wife was going to go 34 00:01:56,760 --> 00:02:00,240 check into the hospital to give birth to Dansley, and I got a 35 00:02:00,240 --> 00:02:03,040 phone call while I was at work and she was just sobbing. 36 00:02:03,320 --> 00:02:04,520 She'd gone. To that last. 37 00:02:04,520 --> 00:02:07,560 Check up before going to the hospital and found out that 38 00:02:07,560 --> 00:02:11,200 there was no heartbeat. And so we found out the day 39 00:02:11,200 --> 00:02:14,760 before basically that Dansley had passed away. 40 00:02:15,480 --> 00:02:21,360 And so I, I, I raced down to the doctor's office and we like it. 41 00:02:21,520 --> 00:02:25,240 It is the worst case scenario if you're if you're pregnant is the 42 00:02:25,240 --> 00:02:27,520 worst case scenario that you know can happen, but you're 43 00:02:27,520 --> 00:02:34,240 never prepared for it to happen. And we ended up having to go 44 00:02:34,240 --> 00:02:37,480 into the hospital and I sat with my wife while she went through 45 00:02:37,800 --> 00:02:40,920 the labor and delivery of a dead baby. 46 00:02:42,320 --> 00:02:48,400 And so trying to trying to put words to grief is actually 47 00:02:48,400 --> 00:02:51,800 really difficult because it doesn't affect everyone the same 48 00:02:51,800 --> 00:02:54,320 way. And and because it's, it's hard 49 00:02:54,320 --> 00:03:00,640 to articulate confusion, emptiness, numbness that is 50 00:03:00,640 --> 00:03:05,240 involved because the, the, the shock of loss is often so 51 00:03:05,240 --> 00:03:08,360 intense that you just want to feel something. 52 00:03:08,360 --> 00:03:11,400 In fact, we see a lot, a lot of times we make a lot of mistakes 53 00:03:11,400 --> 00:03:14,840 in our grief. But one of the things that I, I 54 00:03:14,840 --> 00:03:20,600 never, I never really was prepared for it in those days 55 00:03:20,600 --> 00:03:23,920 and weeks after our loss was the number of people that would come 56 00:03:23,920 --> 00:03:29,600 and say, how can I help? Bro? 57 00:03:29,600 --> 00:03:32,280 I don't even, I don't even know how to live right now. 58 00:03:33,480 --> 00:03:35,640 I don't know how to do basic life function. 59 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:39,640 I, I, I feel helpless. I don't know how to tell you how 60 00:03:39,640 --> 00:03:42,040 to help. I can't figure out my own life, 61 00:03:42,040 --> 00:03:44,760 let alone tell you or guide you on a way to help me. 62 00:03:44,760 --> 00:03:46,680 And I wasn't prepared for the number of times I would be 63 00:03:46,680 --> 00:03:49,240 asked. Here's what the people closest 64 00:03:49,240 --> 00:03:51,200 to us did. They just showed up. 65 00:03:52,960 --> 00:03:56,880 They cleaned our house, they took our other kids places, they 66 00:03:56,880 --> 00:03:59,480 made food, they made themselves available. 67 00:04:00,360 --> 00:04:02,440 They didn't tell us anything profound. 68 00:04:03,360 --> 00:04:06,680 They didn't try to to speak encouragement into our lives. 69 00:04:06,680 --> 00:04:08,680 Like we were in shock. We couldn't have heard anything 70 00:04:08,680 --> 00:04:11,120 anyways. Now, there were plenty of other 71 00:04:11,120 --> 00:04:13,800 people that tried to help in plenty of other ways, and most 72 00:04:13,880 --> 00:04:17,320 were not helpful. For me, this is my my first real 73 00:04:17,320 --> 00:04:21,079 introduction to what it would look like to walk with people 74 00:04:21,079 --> 00:04:23,360 through their suffering, to walk with people through their 75 00:04:23,360 --> 00:04:26,200 affliction. And as a pastor, I've had an 76 00:04:26,200 --> 00:04:29,280 opportunity to do this a number of times where I get to walk 77 00:04:29,280 --> 00:04:30,280 with people. Here. 78 00:04:30,320 --> 00:04:33,760 Here's one of the. One of the things that we, I 79 00:04:33,760 --> 00:04:37,080 lament about our modern culture is that in, in kind of Western 80 00:04:37,080 --> 00:04:40,760 civilization, so Europe and in the US now in this postmodern 81 00:04:40,760 --> 00:04:44,520 world, we don't even understand what it means to grieve anymore 82 00:04:45,760 --> 00:04:49,920 in the West. Now the, the, there was a study 83 00:04:49,920 --> 00:04:54,840 a couple years ago said in our culture, now the, the, your, the 84 00:04:54,880 --> 00:04:58,840 expectation in our society is that you're, you're allowed to 85 00:04:58,840 --> 00:05:03,280 grieve for about 72 hours and we expect you to be done with it in 86 00:05:03,280 --> 00:05:07,480 about 3 days. If you've been through any real 87 00:05:07,480 --> 00:05:10,680 loss, you're not ready usually in three days to go back to 88 00:05:10,680 --> 00:05:15,200 normal, but that's the. Expectations often put on us. 89 00:05:15,200 --> 00:05:18,240 And So what I want to do right now is we want to open the Bible 90 00:05:18,240 --> 00:05:20,520 and we want to take a look at what it talks about when it when 91 00:05:20,520 --> 00:05:23,360 it, when we're looking at not just suffering, but how do we 92 00:05:23,360 --> 00:05:26,160 walk with people? How do we comfort people when 93 00:05:26,160 --> 00:05:28,120 they're suffering, when they're going through affliction? 94 00:05:28,120 --> 00:05:29,760 Here's the big idea. It's in your hand out today. 95 00:05:30,160 --> 00:05:37,000 It's this God prepares, provides and positions me to comfort the 96 00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:39,440 afflicted. God prepares, provides, and 97 00:05:39,440 --> 00:05:41,120 positions me to comfort the afflicted. 98 00:05:43,240 --> 00:05:45,720 I'm going to be primarily going to be in Second Corinthians 99 00:05:45,760 --> 00:05:50,040 chapter 1 today. This was a letter written to the 100 00:05:50,040 --> 00:05:54,400 early church in the city of Corinth by a man named Paul. 101 00:05:54,840 --> 00:05:58,840 He was a missionary who who started really most of the first 102 00:05:58,840 --> 00:06:00,360 churches. In these cities, in these Greek 103 00:06:00,360 --> 00:06:05,400 cities. And he is a guy who has, we 104 00:06:05,400 --> 00:06:07,880 would call him an expert on suffering. 105 00:06:07,880 --> 00:06:11,040 I don't know if they make experts in suffering, but if 106 00:06:11,040 --> 00:06:13,240 they didn't, if they may, if they had experts in suffering, 107 00:06:13,240 --> 00:06:17,040 it would be the Apostle Paul. Listen to his resume real quick. 108 00:06:17,960 --> 00:06:21,640 He was imprisoned and repeatedly flogged. 109 00:06:21,640 --> 00:06:27,280 That means whipped and beaten as well as he was stoned and left 110 00:06:27,280 --> 00:06:30,480 for dead. He had been in dangers from 111 00:06:30,480 --> 00:06:34,000 rivers and robbers as well as from Jews and Gentiles and false 112 00:06:34,000 --> 00:06:35,640 Christians. He was shipwrecked. 113 00:06:35,760 --> 00:06:39,480 He was snake bitten. He knew many cold and sleepless 114 00:06:39,480 --> 00:06:41,000 nights and hungry and thirsty days. 115 00:06:41,000 --> 00:06:45,280 And on top of all of that he was constantly anxious for the early 116 00:06:45,280 --> 00:06:47,520 churches, that he had started praying for them and worrying 117 00:06:47,520 --> 00:06:49,560 about them. And he, his ministry was under 118 00:06:49,560 --> 00:06:52,840 constant attack, both from external sources, the Roman 119 00:06:52,840 --> 00:06:55,120 government and the Jewish Pharisees, but also from 120 00:06:55,120 --> 00:06:58,640 internal sources inside the church, from false teachers and 121 00:06:58,640 --> 00:07:00,320 power hungry men that were inside the church. 122 00:07:00,520 --> 00:07:05,880 He knew suffering. And so, so when he writes these 123 00:07:05,880 --> 00:07:08,960 words about suffering, I want you to understand it as a man 124 00:07:08,960 --> 00:07:12,000 who knew it well. Here's what he says in Second 125 00:07:12,000 --> 00:07:14,760 Corinthians chapter 1, starting in verse 3. 126 00:07:17,880 --> 00:07:23,160 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the 127 00:07:23,160 --> 00:07:30,160 Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all 128 00:07:30,160 --> 00:07:33,120 our affliction. So that we may be able to 129 00:07:33,120 --> 00:07:38,160 comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with 130 00:07:38,160 --> 00:07:40,040 which we ourselves are comforted by God. 131 00:07:41,120 --> 00:07:45,240 For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through 132 00:07:45,240 --> 00:07:48,040 Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. 133 00:07:48,960 --> 00:07:53,280 If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation, and 134 00:07:53,280 --> 00:07:55,640 if we are comforted, it is for your comfort. 135 00:07:56,560 --> 00:08:00,400 Which you experience when you patiently endure the same 136 00:08:00,400 --> 00:08:04,920 sufferings that we suffer. Our hope for you is unshaken, 137 00:08:05,520 --> 00:08:09,080 For we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also 138 00:08:09,080 --> 00:08:14,360 share in our comfort. We spent a few minutes today 139 00:08:14,440 --> 00:08:18,040 unpacking these words from the Apostle Paul A an expert in 140 00:08:18,040 --> 00:08:20,520 suffering. He starts with this idea. 141 00:08:20,720 --> 00:08:23,080 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the 142 00:08:23,080 --> 00:08:26,360 Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in 143 00:08:26,680 --> 00:08:32,000 all our affliction. For as we share abundantly in 144 00:08:32,280 --> 00:08:36,520 Christ's suffering, the universal truth of humanity is 145 00:08:36,520 --> 00:08:40,360 that we will all suffer. Congratulations, welcome to 146 00:08:40,360 --> 00:08:44,560 Resurrection Church. The Bible actually promises 147 00:08:44,560 --> 00:08:48,880 this, that we will suffer. Why? 148 00:08:49,160 --> 00:08:50,480 Well, look, I maybe you're new to the Bible. 149 00:08:50,480 --> 00:08:52,400 Maybe maybe you've never read the Bible. 150 00:08:52,640 --> 00:08:54,800 And if you turn to the very beginning and the very first 151 00:08:54,800 --> 00:08:56,480 book of the Bible is called the book of Genesis. 152 00:08:56,640 --> 00:09:00,760 And the 1st chapter, God creates the world and by the 3rd chapter 153 00:09:00,760 --> 00:09:04,240 we mess it up. Like literally look at this. 154 00:09:04,440 --> 00:09:09,600 We are this far into the Bible and we've already rebelled 155 00:09:09,600 --> 00:09:12,560 against God and messed up creation. 156 00:09:14,160 --> 00:09:18,280 It doesn't take us very long and and by Genesis chapter 3, as we 157 00:09:18,280 --> 00:09:22,120 have rebelled against God, humanity who knew no death, knew 158 00:09:22,120 --> 00:09:26,200 no pain, knew no suffering, rebels against God anyways and 159 00:09:26,200 --> 00:09:29,240 falls under by Genesis 3A curse because of sin, that death 160 00:09:29,400 --> 00:09:33,400 enters into human nature. And that means that every one of 161 00:09:33,400 --> 00:09:38,760 us has now been born underneath the curse of death, the curse of 162 00:09:38,760 --> 00:09:41,440 suffering. Here's the good news. 163 00:09:43,000 --> 00:09:45,600 God does not let us go through this alone. 164 00:09:46,560 --> 00:09:53,200 He actually prepares, provides, and positions us to help one 165 00:09:53,200 --> 00:09:55,480 another. He prepares. 166 00:09:55,880 --> 00:09:58,960 God is preparing you and I through our suffering. 167 00:09:59,440 --> 00:10:03,120 In fact, both the affliction and the comfort are part of the 168 00:10:03,120 --> 00:10:04,800 preparation. Both the suffering that you 169 00:10:04,800 --> 00:10:07,280 experience and the comfort that you receive is part of the 170 00:10:07,280 --> 00:10:08,880 preparation. And here's what I mean by that. 171 00:10:09,120 --> 00:10:13,040 The word that's being used here in this passage for affliction 172 00:10:13,040 --> 00:10:15,880 is the word phlipsis. It's a Greek word, phlipsis. 173 00:10:16,840 --> 00:10:18,760 You need to spit just a little bit when you say it. 174 00:10:18,840 --> 00:10:22,760 Phlipsis right over sitting in front of you in the Pew right 175 00:10:22,760 --> 00:10:28,840 now is not happy and this word it means any type of suffering 176 00:10:28,840 --> 00:10:32,160 any type of trials. In fact, it would mean any of 177 00:10:32,160 --> 00:10:34,400 the three types of suffering in the Bible. 178 00:10:34,480 --> 00:10:37,720 There are actually three different types of suffering in 179 00:10:37,720 --> 00:10:39,120 the Bible. What are those you say well, 180 00:10:39,120 --> 00:10:44,760 thank you for asking well timed three types of suffering are 181 00:10:44,760 --> 00:10:46,640 mentioned in the Bible. Let's talk about all three. 182 00:10:46,880 --> 00:10:50,560 The first type of suffering is this suffering because the world 183 00:10:50,560 --> 00:10:53,440 is broken. That's, that's what Genesis 3 184 00:10:53,440 --> 00:10:55,640 talks about is we are born under this, this curse. 185 00:10:55,840 --> 00:11:00,760 Listen, the world tilts toward chaos and evil. 186 00:11:01,760 --> 00:11:07,200 Can we all turn on the news? Things don't look good. 187 00:11:07,200 --> 00:11:13,160 They never have the the world seems like it is devolving. 188 00:11:13,160 --> 00:11:18,920 It is just always leaning toward chaos and evil and darkness. 189 00:11:18,920 --> 00:11:20,800 This is what the Bible actually explains. 190 00:11:21,440 --> 00:11:25,920 And so we should not be surprised that we might suffer 191 00:11:25,920 --> 00:11:28,800 in a world that is under a curse. 192 00:11:31,080 --> 00:11:33,440 So some of the suffering that you and I experience is because 193 00:11:33,440 --> 00:11:37,960 we live in a broken world. But secondly, we also suffer 194 00:11:38,640 --> 00:11:40,520 because of my own bad decisions. Amen. 195 00:11:42,320 --> 00:11:43,840 Has anyone here made a bad decision? 196 00:11:44,520 --> 00:11:45,920 Has anyone suffered because of it? 197 00:11:46,120 --> 00:11:48,320 OK, can we stop calling that a test? 198 00:11:51,120 --> 00:11:54,040 God is not testing me when I do stupid stuff. 199 00:11:56,400 --> 00:11:58,400 I love having a truck. I don't have a truck right now. 200 00:11:58,520 --> 00:12:00,480 Someday when they're cheap enough and Elon lowers the 201 00:12:00,480 --> 00:12:01,640 price, I'm going to buy a cyber truck. 202 00:12:02,200 --> 00:12:06,360 But years ago I decided I I would I would make an impulse 203 00:12:06,360 --> 00:12:07,360 buy. Horrible decision. 204 00:12:07,360 --> 00:12:10,760 Never do that. And I would buy this truck and I 205 00:12:10,760 --> 00:12:14,920 bought like a an older used Ford F-250 diesel. 206 00:12:17,000 --> 00:12:18,120 You already know where this is going. 207 00:12:18,960 --> 00:12:21,440 I am also not mechanically inclined and I know nothing 208 00:12:21,440 --> 00:12:23,080 about cars. So I bought this thing and I 209 00:12:23,080 --> 00:12:27,280 mean within like 6 weeks it's spilling oil everywhere. 210 00:12:27,280 --> 00:12:31,040 And I and I and I realized like there's more, there's more work 211 00:12:31,040 --> 00:12:33,160 to be done to this engine than the whole truck is worth. 212 00:12:33,520 --> 00:12:36,080 And I just have to get rid of it and I lose like thousands of 213 00:12:36,080 --> 00:12:38,760 dollars in the process. OK, listen, God was not testing 214 00:12:38,760 --> 00:12:43,160 me, was just an idiot. OK, so some of the suffering 215 00:12:43,160 --> 00:12:44,840 that we go through is like, Oh my, is it? 216 00:12:44,840 --> 00:12:47,360 If it's not the consequences of my own bad decisions. 217 00:12:48,480 --> 00:12:49,840 So we suffer because the world's broken. 218 00:12:49,920 --> 00:12:51,920 And often times we suffer because we make stupid 219 00:12:51,920 --> 00:12:52,880 decisions. Amen. 220 00:12:53,160 --> 00:12:54,280 What did you learn today at church? 221 00:12:54,280 --> 00:13:01,680 I'm stupid. OK, But but there's a third 222 00:13:01,680 --> 00:13:04,360 reason in the Bible we suffer, and that's we suffer because of 223 00:13:04,360 --> 00:13:09,560 persecution for Christ. The Bible say to love Jesus is 224 00:13:09,560 --> 00:13:12,280 to be hated by the world. And so. 225 00:13:12,320 --> 00:13:14,800 So now we don't listen. Let's be real. 226 00:13:14,800 --> 00:13:18,880 We live in America, so most of us don't experience a great deal 227 00:13:18,880 --> 00:13:21,840 of religious persecution here because we love Jesus. 228 00:13:21,840 --> 00:13:25,240 Amen. Like like literally persecution 229 00:13:25,240 --> 00:13:27,080 here is like, Oh my God, they forgot whipped cream on my 230 00:13:27,080 --> 00:13:31,280 starbees. I don't, I don't think that's. 231 00:13:31,760 --> 00:13:34,200 Target got my order wrong. I got to walk inside. 232 00:13:36,320 --> 00:13:38,280 But there is real persecution in this world. 233 00:13:40,440 --> 00:13:42,720 Not, not just historically there, there are, there are 234 00:13:42,720 --> 00:13:46,480 countries right now today where you can be imprisoned, where you 235 00:13:46,480 --> 00:13:52,240 can be killed or beaten for declaring faith in Jesus Christ. 236 00:13:53,360 --> 00:13:56,720 So three types of suffering or you can suffer for any or all of 237 00:13:56,720 --> 00:14:00,280 these reasons that we do. But here's the here's the hope. 238 00:14:01,240 --> 00:14:04,560 The hope is this. If you and I have put our faith 239 00:14:04,560 --> 00:14:07,760 in Jesus Christ, if we are believers in Christ, we actually 240 00:14:07,760 --> 00:14:12,200 suffer with a purpose. Now, even if we suffer because 241 00:14:12,200 --> 00:14:16,560 of our own actions, God disciplines us to teach us 242 00:14:16,560 --> 00:14:20,840 because He loves us. All suffering has a purpose for 243 00:14:20,840 --> 00:14:22,120 the believer. This is what the Bible says. 244 00:14:22,480 --> 00:14:24,480 If you turn to Romans 5, three and four, we'll put it on the 245 00:14:24,480 --> 00:14:28,120 screen real quick and say this. Not only that, but we rejoice in 246 00:14:28,120 --> 00:14:31,800 our sufferings. You're all like, well, I don't. 247 00:14:33,560 --> 00:14:38,280 We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces 248 00:14:38,280 --> 00:14:43,280 endurance and endurance produces character and character produces 249 00:14:43,600 --> 00:14:48,440 hope. The apostle James, who is Jesus 250 00:14:48,440 --> 00:14:50,480 half brother and James one, says it this way. 251 00:14:50,480 --> 00:14:54,240 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various 252 00:14:54,240 --> 00:14:59,400 kinds. For you know that the testing of 253 00:14:59,400 --> 00:15:01,880 your faith produces steadfastness and lets 254 00:15:01,880 --> 00:15:06,120 steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect 255 00:15:06,120 --> 00:15:07,760 and complete, lacking in nothing. 256 00:15:09,600 --> 00:15:12,960 What are these passages saying? We're going to suffer, It's 257 00:15:12,960 --> 00:15:17,600 going to happen. But if we're believers, God will 258 00:15:17,600 --> 00:15:21,160 actually transform us through our suffering. 259 00:15:21,760 --> 00:15:25,720 That's what this is saying, that there is a refining that will 260 00:15:25,720 --> 00:15:31,560 happen to us as we suffer. Now, how many of you have gone 261 00:15:31,560 --> 00:15:34,320 like maybe you when you were younger, you went to like a like 262 00:15:34,320 --> 00:15:37,280 a camp or you have to go to like a retreat or something? 263 00:15:37,320 --> 00:15:39,320 Like you go in the mountains and you have this like phenomenal 264 00:15:39,320 --> 00:15:42,120 spiritual experience. Anybody, 4 of you. 265 00:15:42,120 --> 00:15:43,640 We got to do more camps apparently. 266 00:15:44,200 --> 00:15:48,400 Holy smokes, guys. If you've ever had like, what I 267 00:15:48,400 --> 00:15:51,360 would kind of call like a mountain top experience, when 268 00:15:51,360 --> 00:15:54,400 you get away and like God is just moving in powerful ways and 269 00:15:54,400 --> 00:15:56,200 you just like, man, this is such a great experience. 270 00:15:56,200 --> 00:15:59,520 Look, I love those things too. But most often in my life, when 271 00:15:59,520 --> 00:16:02,200 God has actually transformed and changed my character, it has 272 00:16:02,200 --> 00:16:04,400 been in the valley of the shadow of death. 273 00:16:05,640 --> 00:16:08,240 It has been in the suffering, it has been in pain. 274 00:16:08,360 --> 00:16:11,680 It has been in difficulty. That requires great faith and a 275 00:16:11,680 --> 00:16:15,520 desperate clinging to God. So, yeah, we love the 276 00:16:15,520 --> 00:16:18,920 mountaintop experiences, but God does a lot of work in the 277 00:16:18,920 --> 00:16:19,920 valley. Amen. 278 00:16:23,000 --> 00:16:25,600 It is it is pain with a purpose because but it is in the 279 00:16:25,600 --> 00:16:30,040 suffering that we begin to have real clarity about convictions. 280 00:16:31,640 --> 00:16:34,240 That doesn't make the pain better necessarily, but it but 281 00:16:34,240 --> 00:16:37,160 it's not senseless. But when I walked out of the 282 00:16:37,160 --> 00:16:40,760 hospital room after we had lost our child and I went to the 283 00:16:40,760 --> 00:16:43,320 waiting room, it was my my brother-in-law was one of the 284 00:16:43,320 --> 00:16:44,520 people that met me in the waiting room. 285 00:16:44,680 --> 00:16:47,320 And he's, he's mourning and he's crying and and he's trying to 286 00:16:47,320 --> 00:16:49,200 make sense of it like all of us are and up talking to him. 287 00:16:49,480 --> 00:16:53,160 And, and this is the most serious spiritual conversations 288 00:16:53,160 --> 00:16:55,560 I ever got to have with my brother-in-law were right after 289 00:16:55,560 --> 00:16:58,680 the loss of my daughter. And all of a sudden he's talking 290 00:16:58,680 --> 00:17:01,320 to me about eternal things. He's talking to me about God. 291 00:17:01,440 --> 00:17:03,760 And he begins to get serious about his faith over the next 292 00:17:03,760 --> 00:17:05,480 few months. And he gets to investigate and 293 00:17:05,480 --> 00:17:07,880 pursue the Lord and go to church and read his Bible. 294 00:17:07,880 --> 00:17:11,440 And why did that happen? Because in loss there's a 295 00:17:11,440 --> 00:17:14,319 conviction, A clarity about what's important and what's not. 296 00:17:15,520 --> 00:17:18,000 And that that loss also galvanized my faith. 297 00:17:18,000 --> 00:17:20,119 Why? Because I had to decide if God 298 00:17:20,119 --> 00:17:23,280 was. Good, even when things were bad. 299 00:17:25,040 --> 00:17:27,720 So I had to make that choice because it is a choice. 300 00:17:27,720 --> 00:17:35,660 If you go back to verse three, I want you to, I want you to catch 301 00:17:35,660 --> 00:17:37,540 a title that's used in here. It's very interesting. 302 00:17:38,420 --> 00:17:42,980 It says the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. 303 00:17:42,980 --> 00:17:46,060 Now that's a really interesting word that's used there. 304 00:17:46,060 --> 00:17:48,140 It's the first time it shows up in Second Corinthians, but it's 305 00:17:48,140 --> 00:17:49,980 going to show up 10 times in this letter. 306 00:17:50,220 --> 00:17:53,060 And that word comfort is a word paraclesis. 307 00:17:53,060 --> 00:17:57,080 It's a Greek word, paraclesis, and it means comfort, not like 308 00:17:57,640 --> 00:17:59,800 like you bought a new mattress and it's super comfortable. 309 00:17:59,800 --> 00:18:02,480 Not that kind of comfort, but comfort, like encouragement, 310 00:18:04,480 --> 00:18:09,880 like a verb, comfort, the God of all comfort, paraclesis. 311 00:18:09,880 --> 00:18:12,240 Now, the reason that's such an interesting word and it's 312 00:18:12,240 --> 00:18:13,920 repeated over and over and over again, the reason that's so 313 00:18:13,920 --> 00:18:17,760 interesting is there's another word, another Greek word that is 314 00:18:17,760 --> 00:18:19,600 the root of that word. It's called paraclete. 315 00:18:20,000 --> 00:18:22,400 And Paraclete, we see that word show up. 316 00:18:22,920 --> 00:18:26,000 Jesus uses it and he uses it in John 14. 317 00:18:26,440 --> 00:18:32,120 In John 14, Jesus says this. He says, and I will ask the 318 00:18:32,120 --> 00:18:35,880 Father and he will give you another helper to be with you 319 00:18:35,880 --> 00:18:37,840 forever. And what Jesus is doing in that 320 00:18:37,840 --> 00:18:40,520 moment is he saying, listen, I'm going to leave, but I'm going to 321 00:18:40,520 --> 00:18:43,160 send you the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is what for 322 00:18:43,160 --> 00:18:46,440 believers in dwells us, except the name that He uses for the 323 00:18:46,440 --> 00:18:50,040 Holy Spirit is not helper, it's Paraclete. 324 00:18:51,440 --> 00:18:54,240 It's capitalized like a noun, like a proper noun, like a name. 325 00:18:54,480 --> 00:18:59,440 The actual literal name of the Holy Spirit is the encourager, 326 00:19:00,840 --> 00:19:03,200 the comforter. So. 327 00:19:03,200 --> 00:19:05,840 So if you're a believer, God didn't just save you from your 328 00:19:05,840 --> 00:19:07,480 sin. He didn't just just raise you 329 00:19:07,480 --> 00:19:10,680 from the grave to new life. He also took encouragement, 330 00:19:10,680 --> 00:19:14,600 supernatural encouragement, and indwelt it into your life. 331 00:19:15,800 --> 00:19:17,720 Truth alarm. Did you hear it? 332 00:19:24,920 --> 00:19:27,320 God is not just the God of encouragement. 333 00:19:27,560 --> 00:19:30,600 The very spirit that indwells believers is called the 334 00:19:30,600 --> 00:19:36,480 encourager, the comforter. That is how God provides a 335 00:19:36,480 --> 00:19:38,480 supernatural source of comfort for you. 336 00:19:38,480 --> 00:19:41,800 So, So God, he prepares, He provides. 337 00:19:43,240 --> 00:19:46,120 In fact, I was thinking, I can't even imagine going through 338 00:19:46,640 --> 00:19:49,040 suffering. Without the hope of the Holy. 339 00:19:49,040 --> 00:19:54,360 Spirit to encourage me, to teach me one of the most important 340 00:19:54,360 --> 00:19:56,440 lessons that I have learned over the course of my life in 341 00:19:56,440 --> 00:20:02,920 suffering is really that we find out in suffering, in difficulty, 342 00:20:03,280 --> 00:20:05,680 whether or not we really believe in the Bible. 343 00:20:05,960 --> 00:20:08,880 Like we really find out a lot about our faith in suffering. 344 00:20:08,880 --> 00:20:13,240 And what I mean about that is like so like 8 years ago I had 345 00:20:13,280 --> 00:20:17,080 an issue with my kidney. That put me in the ER and I'm in 346 00:20:17,080 --> 00:20:19,640 the ER over the weekend and the pain had gotten so intense that 347 00:20:19,640 --> 00:20:21,560 I end up rolling off the hospital bed and I'm like 348 00:20:21,560 --> 00:20:23,920 rolling, rising on the ground just in pain. 349 00:20:24,280 --> 00:20:28,280 And, and in that agony, God is speaking very loudly to me and 350 00:20:28,280 --> 00:20:30,760 he's asking me about some very specific acts of obedience. 351 00:20:30,760 --> 00:20:33,720 And he has called me to, and he's reminding me of scripture 352 00:20:33,840 --> 00:20:36,240 and he's really pressing on whether or not I'm going to be 353 00:20:36,240 --> 00:20:39,720 obedient in those areas. And, and, and really here's what 354 00:20:39,720 --> 00:20:43,360 I would say is this. You can say you believe that God 355 00:20:43,360 --> 00:20:47,720 is good, but do you believe it when the circumstances you're 356 00:20:47,720 --> 00:20:53,280 going through aren't good? Like we say this a lot. 357 00:20:54,360 --> 00:20:57,560 You only believe the parts of the Bible that you live out. 358 00:20:59,160 --> 00:21:00,280 Did you know what I mean by that? 359 00:21:01,440 --> 00:21:04,400 We live in kind of a pseudo Christian nation, you know, 360 00:21:04,400 --> 00:21:05,960 where people are like, Oh yeah, I believe in the Bible. 361 00:21:06,600 --> 00:21:09,640 And what they, what they mean by that isn't what the Bible would 362 00:21:09,640 --> 00:21:11,680 say. Like, well, if you say you 363 00:21:11,680 --> 00:21:13,960 believe in the Bible, but you don't want to follow the Bible's 364 00:21:13,960 --> 00:21:17,440 guidance on the hard stuff, on sex, on marriage, on purity, 365 00:21:17,680 --> 00:21:18,920 like you don't believe in the Bible. 366 00:21:20,240 --> 00:21:22,320 If you say you believe in the Bible, but you consistently 367 00:21:22,320 --> 00:21:25,200 follow your emotions or your pride instead of humility and 368 00:21:25,200 --> 00:21:27,280 gentleness, you don't actually believe in this Bible. 369 00:21:29,280 --> 00:21:35,600 Believing the easy stuff is in faith, It's in suffering that 370 00:21:35,600 --> 00:21:38,240 the spirit changes our character. 371 00:21:38,240 --> 00:21:41,880 He he's refining my character. He he's really pressing on the 372 00:21:41,880 --> 00:21:48,400 stuff that I don't want to do. My faith in God, my faith in his 373 00:21:48,400 --> 00:21:52,880 word, because the the Bible becomes entirely a different 374 00:21:52,880 --> 00:21:54,880 book when instead of just reading it, I have to live it. 375 00:21:54,920 --> 00:21:58,800 Amen. Like the Bible is perfect, but 376 00:21:58,800 --> 00:22:05,400 lived out Scripture is potent, it's powerful and living out 377 00:22:05,400 --> 00:22:07,080 Scripture is hard. Can I get an Amen? 378 00:22:07,840 --> 00:22:10,360 Like you have read that whole love your enemies thing, right? 379 00:22:11,360 --> 00:22:13,640 Like it's easy to read, but doing it. 380 00:22:17,160 --> 00:22:19,800 But let me just let me, let me submit this to you because we're 381 00:22:19,800 --> 00:22:21,120 talking about walking with others, right? 382 00:22:22,160 --> 00:22:24,440 You know, the person that I will immediately pay attention to and 383 00:22:24,440 --> 00:22:29,160 listen to when they speak is the person that I watch living this 384 00:22:29,160 --> 00:22:33,440 out when it's hard. Do you know what I'm saying? 385 00:22:34,560 --> 00:22:37,720 The the the person that responds to the conviction of the Holy 386 00:22:37,720 --> 00:22:41,000 Spirit through obedience to the Scripture when they're suffering 387 00:22:41,880 --> 00:22:46,080 that I mean, I that person has my attention that the spouse who 388 00:22:46,080 --> 00:22:49,680 is faithful and enduring when their spouse is making life a 389 00:22:49,680 --> 00:22:52,680 living hell and they're only doing that not because they want 390 00:22:52,680 --> 00:22:56,760 to, but because the Bible commands it. 391 00:22:58,360 --> 00:23:02,440 The the the sister in Christ who is praising God with all of her 392 00:23:02,440 --> 00:23:06,600 might, even though after God made her a widow far too early, 393 00:23:06,960 --> 00:23:09,480 because she believes what God has written in his Word. 394 00:23:11,080 --> 00:23:14,000 The person who is hurt. And and it's suffering and yet 395 00:23:14,000 --> 00:23:16,720 they they're extending forgiveness even though every 396 00:23:16,720 --> 00:23:20,760 fleshly desire and emotion is screaming for revenge because 397 00:23:20,760 --> 00:23:23,680 the Bible commands it the the person that is living out 398 00:23:23,680 --> 00:23:26,120 scripture when it they do not want to that person I'm 399 00:23:26,120 --> 00:23:28,520 listening to because I know that faith is real. 400 00:23:31,760 --> 00:23:33,480 I know it means more than lip service. 401 00:23:37,680 --> 00:23:39,840 You see if you'll do this, if you'll live the Bible out when 402 00:23:39,840 --> 00:23:41,360 it's hard, not just when it's easy. 403 00:23:42,240 --> 00:23:44,680 Not only will God change your character, but He will begin to 404 00:23:44,680 --> 00:23:47,760 position you to help other people too. 405 00:23:48,520 --> 00:23:52,000 What He's doing is giving you a testimony. 406 00:23:53,840 --> 00:23:58,480 A testimony is a first person perspective of God at work. 407 00:24:01,000 --> 00:24:03,200 And the third thing he's doing is he's positioning you. 408 00:24:03,280 --> 00:24:05,440 He positions. Let me show you that again, if 409 00:24:05,440 --> 00:24:09,240 you flip to verse four, he says God the Father who comforts us 410 00:24:09,240 --> 00:24:11,400 in our affliction and then look at the so the word. 411 00:24:11,400 --> 00:24:15,120 So it's leading us to the rationale for this comfort so 412 00:24:15,120 --> 00:24:20,120 that we may be able. To comfort those who are in any 413 00:24:20,120 --> 00:24:23,600 affliction we go through. Character refinement and 414 00:24:23,600 --> 00:24:29,160 suffering. God comforts us so that we can 415 00:24:29,160 --> 00:24:31,960 comfort others. So God doesn't just use our 416 00:24:31,960 --> 00:24:33,520 suffering to refine our character. 417 00:24:33,520 --> 00:24:36,960 He does that, but also he, he refines our character not only 418 00:24:36,960 --> 00:24:39,360 for our benefit. He does it so that he can 419 00:24:39,360 --> 00:24:41,960 prepare and position us to get ready to go pour ourselves out 420 00:24:41,960 --> 00:24:47,520 for other people. We suffer, we are encouraged, we 421 00:24:47,520 --> 00:24:51,240 grow through that, and now we're in a position to help other 422 00:24:51,240 --> 00:24:54,560 people. Let me see if I can give you an 423 00:24:54,560 --> 00:24:57,640 analogy that helps. This can be a tough analogy 424 00:24:57,640 --> 00:25:00,400 because we live in Bakersfield, but imagine you're in a 425 00:25:00,400 --> 00:25:02,160 Blizzard. See, I told you it was going to 426 00:25:02,160 --> 00:25:05,400 be tough. Imagine get caught in a Blizzard 427 00:25:05,960 --> 00:25:07,440 and maybe, you know, maybe you're at home, but like the 428 00:25:07,440 --> 00:25:09,240 heat goes out, right? It's getting colder, it's 429 00:25:09,240 --> 00:25:10,880 getting colder and it's getting colder. 430 00:25:11,200 --> 00:25:14,160 And so, So what, what we were praying that God would, would 431 00:25:14,160 --> 00:25:16,480 take the storm away, that, that, that it would stop snowing and 432 00:25:16,480 --> 00:25:18,080 it would stop being cold because we're freezing to death. 433 00:25:18,080 --> 00:25:22,240 And, and sometimes God does that, but sometimes God doesn't 434 00:25:22,240 --> 00:25:23,760 remove us from the storm. Amen. 435 00:25:25,080 --> 00:25:26,840 But it says he, he comforts us even in that. 436 00:25:26,840 --> 00:25:29,760 So, so sometimes instead what God does is he gives us a, he 437 00:25:29,760 --> 00:25:32,040 gives us a blanket. This is a prayer quote. 438 00:25:32,040 --> 00:25:33,200 By the way. We have a quilting team. 439 00:25:33,680 --> 00:25:36,920 If you know that they make, they make custom quotes every time 440 00:25:36,920 --> 00:25:38,760 someone goes in the hospital or we get some sort of prayer 441 00:25:38,760 --> 00:25:41,240 request, they make a quote specifically for that person. 442 00:25:41,520 --> 00:25:43,840 And, and we, we pray for them and we tie a little knots for 443 00:25:43,840 --> 00:25:46,840 every prayer and then we go give it to them to help comfort them. 444 00:25:47,720 --> 00:25:50,080 Sometimes he gives us a blanket. So does it change the 445 00:25:50,080 --> 00:25:53,840 temperature around us? It's still a storm, it's still 446 00:25:53,840 --> 00:25:58,040 cold, but he actually gives us a way to be comforted through the 447 00:25:58,040 --> 00:26:03,160 affliction. And, and The thing is that once 448 00:26:03,160 --> 00:26:06,080 you have begun to realize this and participate in this, and you 449 00:26:06,080 --> 00:26:08,800 begin to lean into the Lord as he comforts you, you're in a 450 00:26:08,800 --> 00:26:11,920 position when other people are caught in a storm to teach them 451 00:26:11,920 --> 00:26:15,440 how to use this. Does this make sense? 452 00:26:18,560 --> 00:26:23,120 So sometimes our suffering is not only to refine our character 453 00:26:23,120 --> 00:26:25,640 for our benefit, it's to refine our character so we now have 454 00:26:25,640 --> 00:26:27,240 something to go teach other people. 455 00:26:30,480 --> 00:26:33,000 Here's the idea. Everything that God does for you 456 00:26:34,440 --> 00:26:40,640 is meant for more than just you. Everything that God does for you 457 00:26:40,720 --> 00:26:44,960 is meant for more than just you. You see, we live in America, so 458 00:26:44,960 --> 00:26:48,600 we're all egocentric. The world revolves around 459 00:26:48,600 --> 00:26:51,800 Daniel. Oh God, how could you do this to 460 00:26:51,800 --> 00:26:53,680 me? God's like because I have. 461 00:26:53,680 --> 00:26:56,480 Something for you, you're going to go help other people and I 462 00:26:56,480 --> 00:26:58,960 need to prepare you for it. So you're going to have to 463 00:26:58,960 --> 00:27:04,720 suffer a little bit. Look at the verse Romans 15 one 464 00:27:04,720 --> 00:27:06,680 and two. This is one of the toughest 465 00:27:07,120 --> 00:27:09,080 verses in the Bible. You're welcome. 466 00:27:11,000 --> 00:27:15,760 Here's what it says. We who are strong have an 467 00:27:15,760 --> 00:27:19,640 obligation to bear with the failings of the weak and not to 468 00:27:19,640 --> 00:27:22,720 please ourselves. Let each of us please his 469 00:27:22,720 --> 00:27:24,880 neighbor for his good, to build him up. 470 00:27:30,240 --> 00:27:33,600 How do you get strong spiritually? 471 00:27:34,200 --> 00:27:35,560 How do you get spiritually strong? 472 00:27:39,680 --> 00:27:41,040 What's the recipe? In the Bible. 473 00:27:41,040 --> 00:27:44,840 For getting spiritually strong suffering. 474 00:27:46,040 --> 00:27:47,480 Oh, no, thank you. Not none of that. 475 00:27:47,480 --> 00:27:49,760 Please. I I like carrots, not suffering. 476 00:27:51,480 --> 00:27:54,600 Nobody, no one wanted to voluntarily ask for more 477 00:27:54,600 --> 00:27:55,480 suffering. Amen. 478 00:27:56,400 --> 00:27:58,520 Like no one this morning in prayer time was like God, you 479 00:27:58,520 --> 00:28:05,720 know what I need more suffering. No one wants this, but it's how 480 00:28:05,720 --> 00:28:10,680 you get strong as you go through storms, you learn how to use the 481 00:28:10,680 --> 00:28:14,680 comfort and you get stronger as he refines your character. 482 00:28:15,600 --> 00:28:20,840 Let me explain how we talked about the Holy Spirit's name, 483 00:28:20,840 --> 00:28:22,680 Paraclete is is is the encourager. 484 00:28:22,720 --> 00:28:26,120 Let me tell you how how the Holy Spirit encourages you most of 485 00:28:26,120 --> 00:28:30,480 the time, OK, most of the time, it's not some like super warm 486 00:28:30,480 --> 00:28:32,920 and fuzzy feeling that your heart starts to glow like a 487 00:28:32,920 --> 00:28:38,080 little Care bear Nobody. It's a pretty old reference, I 488 00:28:38,080 --> 00:28:40,880 realize that. OK, sorry, couldn't think of a 489 00:28:40,880 --> 00:28:43,680 new one. Iron Man is that Iron Man with 490 00:28:43,680 --> 00:28:44,760 the little. You know, you got the little 491 00:28:44,760 --> 00:28:47,680 thing OK. Most of the time it's not the 492 00:28:47,680 --> 00:28:49,160 Holy Spirit like you get all warm and. 493 00:28:49,160 --> 00:28:50,080 Fuzzy, right? You know. 494 00:28:50,360 --> 00:28:51,680 How you get encouraged most of the time. 495 00:28:52,800 --> 00:28:55,360 Let's do another believer. The Holy Spirit prompts another 496 00:28:55,360 --> 00:29:00,280 believer and, and then they come up and they go, hey, I don't, I, 497 00:29:00,320 --> 00:29:03,400 I just the other day, about 2-3 weeks ago, I was, I was on a 498 00:29:03,400 --> 00:29:05,440 horrible week. I get a call out of the blue 499 00:29:05,440 --> 00:29:07,520 from someone that's not even in the state and they're like, Hey, 500 00:29:07,520 --> 00:29:10,800 I'm driving down the road and I just felt like God said call you 501 00:29:10,800 --> 00:29:13,560 and you needed to be encouraged. And I was like, you were right. 502 00:29:14,640 --> 00:29:18,240 I'm having a horrible week. And they just encouraged me. 503 00:29:20,040 --> 00:29:22,400 After first service, someone came up to me and they go, I've 504 00:29:22,400 --> 00:29:24,160 never done this before. And it was super weird. 505 00:29:24,400 --> 00:29:26,240 But I, I just had this building conviction throughout the 506 00:29:26,240 --> 00:29:28,120 service that by the end of the service, there's this person a 507 00:29:28,120 --> 00:29:29,840 couple of rows in front of me. And I was supposed to go tell 508 00:29:29,840 --> 00:29:32,440 them that God loves them and he's going to heal them and did 509 00:29:32,440 --> 00:29:34,360 not give up. And he hasn't forgotten them and 510 00:29:34,360 --> 00:29:36,360 he sees them and I don't even know who the person is. 511 00:29:36,360 --> 00:29:39,280 And I was like, did you do it? He's like, yeah, I was. 512 00:29:40,280 --> 00:29:41,680 Like what happened? I was like, they broke down 513 00:29:41,680 --> 00:29:46,040 crying and they told me all the stuff that's going on in their 514 00:29:46,040 --> 00:29:48,680 life. The primary way that the Holy 515 00:29:48,680 --> 00:29:51,120 Spirit encourages you is through other believers. 516 00:29:54,000 --> 00:30:00,720 So He prepares you and positions you to go use the power of the 517 00:30:00,720 --> 00:30:04,520 encourager to encourage the body of Jesus Christ. 518 00:30:04,520 --> 00:30:07,960 Does that make sense? Does that make sense to more 519 00:30:07,960 --> 00:30:11,880 than four of you? 8 1/2 We'll go with it. 520 00:30:15,400 --> 00:30:20,880 And here's the thing, you kind of already intuitively know that 521 00:30:20,880 --> 00:30:23,280 that the people that have been through a lot of suffering and 522 00:30:23,280 --> 00:30:26,240 become dependent on the Lord are absolutely the people that you 523 00:30:26,240 --> 00:30:27,560 would depend on if you were hurting. 524 00:30:28,160 --> 00:30:29,520 OK, You already know that like that. 525 00:30:29,520 --> 00:30:31,520 I don't have to teach you that. You would know that 526 00:30:31,520 --> 00:30:34,560 automatically. Like the people that are best 527 00:30:34,560 --> 00:30:37,920 suited to comfort you to have the Holy Spirit and battle 528 00:30:37,920 --> 00:30:38,680 scars. Amen. 529 00:30:39,680 --> 00:30:41,640 Those are the people that you go to in a crisis. 530 00:30:41,640 --> 00:30:44,760 I I guarantee you you'll already do this If you're having 531 00:30:44,760 --> 00:30:48,000 marriage problems, you no one goes to the couple who's like 532 00:30:48,120 --> 00:30:54,720 we've never had a fight. You don't want to talk to them. 533 00:30:55,920 --> 00:30:58,520 You know who you go to? You go to the people who you 534 00:30:58,520 --> 00:31:01,240 think that their marriage almost dissolved and almost got 535 00:31:01,240 --> 00:31:02,840 wrecked. Maybe there was infidelity. 536 00:31:02,920 --> 00:31:05,520 They were angry at each other. There was evil and God turned 537 00:31:05,520 --> 00:31:06,640 that. Evil to good. 538 00:31:07,680 --> 00:31:12,200 And he redeemed that marriage and he took that weakness and 539 00:31:12,200 --> 00:31:14,680 that mess and he made something glorious out of it. 540 00:31:15,120 --> 00:31:18,480 And they got scars. That's who you go to. 541 00:31:18,480 --> 00:31:23,000 You know why you trust them. They've been through it. 542 00:31:23,760 --> 00:31:26,920 If you lose a child, you don't go to someone who's never 543 00:31:26,920 --> 00:31:29,480 experienced loss. You go to someone who's 544 00:31:29,480 --> 00:31:35,280 experienced great loss and leaned on the Holy Spirit in 545 00:31:35,280 --> 00:31:37,760 that process. You go to them for help, for 546 00:31:37,760 --> 00:31:40,760 comfort, for encouragement. So you intuitively already know 547 00:31:40,920 --> 00:31:43,320 that if you're going to go and look for someone to help in the 548 00:31:43,320 --> 00:31:46,440 moment of affliction, you're looking for battle scars. 549 00:31:49,680 --> 00:31:51,640 Well, often times as we're, we're, we're, we're suffering. 550 00:31:51,640 --> 00:31:53,760 We see it as, as being senseless. 551 00:31:54,000 --> 00:31:56,800 But, but, but God is refining. In fact, he's doing more than 552 00:31:56,800 --> 00:32:00,080 just refining us through it. He's preparing us to pour out 553 00:32:00,080 --> 00:32:01,920 for others. That that's, that's what this 554 00:32:02,120 --> 00:32:03,920 text is saying. You don't just suffer for 555 00:32:03,920 --> 00:32:06,640 yourself. You suffer to be ready to help 556 00:32:06,640 --> 00:32:11,600 others who are suffering. God prepares, provides, and 557 00:32:11,600 --> 00:32:13,800 positions me to comfort the afflicted. 558 00:32:16,080 --> 00:32:18,520 Maybe you're maybe you're sitting here today listening or 559 00:32:18,520 --> 00:32:19,400 you're online. You're listening. 560 00:32:19,400 --> 00:32:22,640 You're like, man, I, I wish someone would do that for me. 561 00:32:25,800 --> 00:32:26,840 Maybe you're, maybe you're new to church. 562 00:32:26,840 --> 00:32:28,640 Maybe you're just visiting. You don't even know anyone yet. 563 00:32:28,640 --> 00:32:30,960 Or maybe maybe you've, maybe you've been going here a while 564 00:32:30,960 --> 00:32:32,520 and there's no one. You feel like you're forgotten 565 00:32:32,520 --> 00:32:35,400 and you're overlooked and, and no one's no one's comforting 566 00:32:35,400 --> 00:32:38,680 you. I have good news for you today. 567 00:32:41,520 --> 00:32:48,440 This is what Jesus does for us. Jesus suffered more than any of 568 00:32:48,440 --> 00:32:54,680 us, and he remained faithful. That means that you and I can 569 00:32:54,680 --> 00:32:58,640 have confidence in his comfort because he can really relate to 570 00:32:58,680 --> 00:33:03,080 us. He can relate to temptation. 571 00:33:03,960 --> 00:33:07,240 He can relate to pain. He can relate to betrayal. 572 00:33:07,920 --> 00:33:13,560 He can relate to suffering. Jesus is perfectly prepared, 573 00:33:14,960 --> 00:33:19,720 provisioned, and positioned to offer you and I comfort in our 574 00:33:19,720 --> 00:33:22,320 suffering. In a few minutes. 575 00:33:22,320 --> 00:33:25,120 I want to I want to talk about the four practical ways to walk 576 00:33:25,120 --> 00:33:26,680 with someone else who's going through suffering. 577 00:33:26,760 --> 00:33:29,480 But, but first, let me ask you the most important question that 578 00:33:29,480 --> 00:33:31,200 you're going to hear today. It's the most important question 579 00:33:31,200 --> 00:33:36,600 you're ever going to consider. Do you know the God of comfort 580 00:33:37,240 --> 00:33:41,200 personally? Do you know him personally? 581 00:33:41,840 --> 00:33:44,880 Maybe maybe you walked in today or you're watching online or on 582 00:33:44,880 --> 00:33:47,840 YouTube and and you're a skeptic or or you doubt this or you just 583 00:33:47,840 --> 00:33:49,480 don't have a religious background and you're doubtful 584 00:33:49,480 --> 00:33:51,840 that that anything like this could even be real. 585 00:33:51,960 --> 00:33:54,360 And you came in with serious wounds or or suffering or 586 00:33:54,360 --> 00:33:56,440 difficulty. And let me I cannot offer you 587 00:33:56,520 --> 00:34:05,680 anything more powerful than Jesus, but you can only partake 588 00:34:05,680 --> 00:34:10,159 in his comfort if you know him, if you have placed your faith in 589 00:34:10,199 --> 00:34:13,120 Jesus finished work of salvation on the cross. 590 00:34:13,719 --> 00:34:16,520 That's what the Bible says in Romans 10/9 and 10 if you 591 00:34:16,520 --> 00:34:19,719 confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, believe in your 592 00:34:19,719 --> 00:34:22,280 heart that God raised him from the dead, that you can be saved 593 00:34:22,440 --> 00:34:24,880 for with the heart 1 believes and is justified, and with the 594 00:34:24,880 --> 00:34:31,440 mouth 1 confesses and is saved. Do you know him not have you 595 00:34:31,440 --> 00:34:33,520 heard about him not do you go to church? 596 00:34:33,639 --> 00:34:35,880 Not do you read a Bible? Do you know him? 597 00:34:35,880 --> 00:34:39,040 Have you given him your life to reign and rule over? 598 00:34:42,480 --> 00:34:49,760 Because if not. Let today be that day so you can 599 00:34:49,760 --> 00:34:54,080 partake in His comfort. The Bible says that you must 600 00:34:54,080 --> 00:34:56,120 believe and declare. That's what those verses just 601 00:34:56,120 --> 00:34:58,040 said. You must believe because you 602 00:34:58,040 --> 00:35:00,280 must believe that you are in need of a Savior and you can't 603 00:35:00,280 --> 00:35:03,520 save yourself. You must believe that you 604 00:35:03,520 --> 00:35:06,640 rebelled against God and therefore do not have the power 605 00:35:06,640 --> 00:35:10,160 to live perfectly on your own. Believe that He rose from the 606 00:35:10,160 --> 00:35:12,920 dead in power and wants to save you. 607 00:35:14,200 --> 00:35:18,640 You must believe that Jesus is God and you must declare. 608 00:35:19,840 --> 00:35:22,400 Declare him as King of your life and Lord over you. 609 00:35:22,680 --> 00:35:26,080 Declare to surrender your will and your desires to him. 610 00:35:27,040 --> 00:35:29,640 You must declare him publicly and not be ashamed of Him. 611 00:35:31,400 --> 00:35:34,600 And so if you would like the opportunity to surrender your 612 00:35:34,600 --> 00:35:36,920 life to Jesus today, I want to give you that opportunity. 613 00:35:36,920 --> 00:35:43,840 If you bow your heads and close your eyes for a brief moment, if 614 00:35:43,840 --> 00:35:48,960 you're willing to ask Him for forgiveness and salvation with 615 00:35:48,960 --> 00:35:51,160 every eye closed and every head bowed, I just want you to 616 00:35:51,160 --> 00:35:54,400 quietly or silently repeat this prayer after me. 617 00:35:54,400 --> 00:35:56,520 It's nothing magical, just a declaration of faith. 618 00:35:56,600 --> 00:36:02,640 Jesus, I know I'm a Sinner and I can't save myself. 619 00:36:04,520 --> 00:36:08,760 I want you to save me. I surrender everything to you. 620 00:36:10,640 --> 00:36:14,840 I receive your promise of forgiveness, of adoption into 621 00:36:14,840 --> 00:36:20,120 your family, of eternal life. Be my Lord. 622 00:36:20,120 --> 00:36:27,360 Please, Jesus, if you prayed that prayer for the very first 623 00:36:27,360 --> 00:36:31,280 time right now, would you be brave and raise your hand so I 624 00:36:31,280 --> 00:36:37,200 can see it? Thank you, thank you. 625 00:36:37,200 --> 00:36:42,280 You can put your hands down in Jesus name, Amen. 626 00:36:47,080 --> 00:36:51,560 Jesus loves you more than you realize and more than you can 627 00:36:51,560 --> 00:36:56,040 imagine. And if you gave your life to him 628 00:36:56,040 --> 00:36:58,080 moments ago, welcome to the family. 629 00:37:05,640 --> 00:37:08,880 In a few minutes when we respond to this message, if you gave 630 00:37:08,880 --> 00:37:11,440 your life to Christ, we have something for you. 631 00:37:11,440 --> 00:37:13,720 We have tables in the back that say I raised my hand and 632 00:37:13,720 --> 00:37:16,520 there'll be people back there. We have a gift for you we want 633 00:37:16,520 --> 00:37:18,000 to celebrate with. You and we want to talk about 634 00:37:18,000 --> 00:37:18,920 what's next. How to? 635 00:37:18,920 --> 00:37:21,200 How to? Pursue a relationship with Jesus 636 00:37:21,200 --> 00:37:23,960 ongoing and grow as a believer. So in just a moment, when we 637 00:37:23,960 --> 00:37:26,080 stand, I want you to go back there and say hi to those 638 00:37:26,080 --> 00:37:26,720 people. They love you. 639 00:37:26,720 --> 00:37:29,880 All right, Maybe you've been listening. 640 00:37:30,440 --> 00:37:33,160 And you've been thinking like this sounds great as a concept, 641 00:37:33,160 --> 00:37:35,480 but I have a friend who's suffering and I still don't know 642 00:37:35,480 --> 00:37:40,360 what to do. All right, four steps, 4 643 00:37:40,360 --> 00:37:42,800 practical steps to walk with someone through their 644 00:37:42,800 --> 00:37:43,640 affliction. Here we go. 645 00:37:44,120 --> 00:37:47,400 Number one, serve. Don't speak. 646 00:37:47,400 --> 00:37:53,040 Serve, don't speak. In 2020, it was a, it was a 647 00:37:53,040 --> 00:37:56,560 Friday evening. I got this frantic phone call 648 00:37:56,600 --> 00:37:59,480 that a really close relative of mine who lived right down the 649 00:37:59,480 --> 00:38:01,160 street from me had taken his life. 650 00:38:03,840 --> 00:38:08,160 And I remember getting the car and driving over to his family's 651 00:38:08,160 --> 00:38:10,640 house. I've been there 100 times and it 652 00:38:10,640 --> 00:38:13,160 looked completely different. The entire block is, is filled 653 00:38:13,160 --> 00:38:16,040 with emergency vehicles and lights and everything going off 654 00:38:16,040 --> 00:38:20,920 everywhere. And it, you know, and I and I 655 00:38:20,920 --> 00:38:24,400 walk up the steps and I open the door and I walk into the living 656 00:38:24,400 --> 00:38:32,000 room and the family sitting on the couch and everyone's shell 657 00:38:32,000 --> 00:38:34,760 shocked. And I remember just thinking 658 00:38:34,760 --> 00:38:40,960 like, I have no idea what to do. What do you tell kids who just 659 00:38:40,960 --> 00:38:45,320 lost their dad? What do you tell a wife who just 660 00:38:45,320 --> 00:38:52,000 lost her husband? But, but eight years earlier, I 661 00:38:52,000 --> 00:38:55,760 had been the one in the living room when I lost my daughter. 662 00:38:57,720 --> 00:39:01,720 I'd been the one on the couch. And so I I did what I wanted 663 00:39:01,720 --> 00:39:07,280 people to do back then. I sat and I didn't say anything. 664 00:39:08,840 --> 00:39:11,000 I just mourned and I just grieved. 665 00:39:11,000 --> 00:39:14,920 And when I found an opportunity to serve them, I went in and I 666 00:39:14,920 --> 00:39:19,680 was the one that cleaned the bathroom because I knew they 667 00:39:19,680 --> 00:39:25,880 couldn't handle that. No one needed my words. 668 00:39:26,520 --> 00:39:30,560 No one needed my advice. They just needed my presence. 669 00:39:31,840 --> 00:39:33,040 Then he didn't know they weren't alone. 670 00:39:34,240 --> 00:39:36,560 They needed to know it was OK to not be OK. 671 00:39:37,440 --> 00:39:39,920 They needed to know that no one was going to put a time limit on 672 00:39:39,920 --> 00:39:41,760 how quickly they needed to get over it. 673 00:39:43,360 --> 00:39:45,960 They needed me to protect them from well-intentioned people who 674 00:39:45,960 --> 00:39:47,440 would like to help and didn't know how. 675 00:39:48,480 --> 00:39:51,240 And so Step 1 is that in the rawest of moments when people 676 00:39:51,240 --> 00:39:54,160 are suffering, is simply to be present and be silent. 677 00:39:56,240 --> 00:40:04,960 Secondly, don't offer advice. Answer questions when you have 678 00:40:04,960 --> 00:40:07,480 earned. In fact, do you know how you'll 679 00:40:07,480 --> 00:40:10,520 know that it's time to speak? They'll ask you. 680 00:40:12,440 --> 00:40:16,320 They'll ask you. And until they do, just be 681 00:40:16,320 --> 00:40:20,640 there. The Bible says to be quick to 682 00:40:20,640 --> 00:40:22,800 listen and slow to speak in the Book of Job. 683 00:40:22,920 --> 00:40:26,440 After Job loses his entire family, his friends show up and 684 00:40:26,440 --> 00:40:30,200 for seven days and seven nights they just sit with him morning. 685 00:40:30,560 --> 00:40:33,920 He'll say anything. In fact, if they had continued 686 00:40:33,920 --> 00:40:36,560 like that, the book of Job would have been very different. 687 00:40:38,800 --> 00:40:44,840 They just. Sat and you wait until they ask, 688 00:40:46,040 --> 00:40:49,320 and you're going to have an opportunity when they ask to 689 00:40:49,320 --> 00:40:51,080 point them to the truth. That's Step 3. 690 00:40:52,160 --> 00:40:58,040 Answer when you're asked with gentle truth, not opinion. 691 00:40:58,440 --> 00:41:09,240 Gentle truth, not opinion. This is the inspired, inerrant, 692 00:41:10,200 --> 00:41:12,640 infallible Word of the living God. 693 00:41:17,040 --> 00:41:21,520 The Bible is perfect but lived out. 694 00:41:21,520 --> 00:41:24,440 Scripture is potent and powerful. 695 00:41:26,360 --> 00:41:28,960 We answer questions and doubts with Scripture. 696 00:41:29,120 --> 00:41:33,080 But if you have lived out this scripture, it is so much more 697 00:41:33,080 --> 00:41:35,880 powerful. That is the power of a 698 00:41:35,880 --> 00:41:38,360 testimony. That's what God is preparing you 699 00:41:38,360 --> 00:41:40,480 for. If you really want to help 700 00:41:40,480 --> 00:41:43,880 people, you cannot offer them an answer from a Bible you don't 701 00:41:43,880 --> 00:41:49,200 actually believe. If you really want to help 702 00:41:49,200 --> 00:41:52,440 people, you have to not just learn your Bible. 703 00:41:52,440 --> 00:41:57,280 You have to live your Bible. Man, every time. 704 00:41:57,280 --> 00:42:00,320 And I get this all the time. This is this is multiple times a 705 00:42:00,320 --> 00:42:02,080 week. Every time I'm talking to 706 00:42:02,080 --> 00:42:05,640 someone about the really hard stuff, the stuff they don't want 707 00:42:05,640 --> 00:42:08,800 to do, I get the responses like I don't care what the church 708 00:42:08,800 --> 00:42:11,440 wants me to do or, or the church is pressuring me to do these 709 00:42:11,440 --> 00:42:13,120 things. No, no, it's not. 710 00:42:13,280 --> 00:42:18,600 The Bible is the Bible's pressuring me to do really hard 711 00:42:18,600 --> 00:42:24,080 stuff that I don't want to do. The church is just encouraging 712 00:42:24,080 --> 00:42:26,600 one another to do the hard stuff of the Bible. 713 00:42:30,520 --> 00:42:33,000 When you'll do this, when you'll do the hard things when you 714 00:42:33,000 --> 00:42:35,720 don't want to, you're going to have a lot more ground to stand 715 00:42:35,720 --> 00:42:38,720 on when you have to go and talk to somebody else about the hard 716 00:42:38,720 --> 00:42:43,920 things. Guys, I desperately need 717 00:42:43,920 --> 00:42:47,640 encouragement from those closest to me to do the hard things that 718 00:42:47,640 --> 00:42:49,840 are in here because I do not want to do them. 719 00:42:50,800 --> 00:42:56,960 That's what makes them hard. I need to be encouraged because 720 00:42:56,960 --> 00:42:59,560 I don't want to do that and you don't want to do it either, if 721 00:42:59,560 --> 00:43:04,520 we're being honest. So so in those moments where 722 00:43:04,520 --> 00:43:07,720 we're asked those questions and the and the truthful answer from 723 00:43:07,720 --> 00:43:11,480 scripture is going to be difficult, we do it gently. 724 00:43:12,280 --> 00:43:16,120 The Bible is non negotiable. It is not a buffet where you 725 00:43:16,120 --> 00:43:17,880 take what you want and you leave the rest. 726 00:43:20,720 --> 00:43:24,080 So regardless if that question is about mental illness 727 00:43:24,080 --> 00:43:26,880 treatment, if it's about forgiveness, if it's about 728 00:43:26,880 --> 00:43:30,560 walking in grief or just dealing with suffering because of sin, 729 00:43:30,680 --> 00:43:36,760 we answer with gentle truth. And if you get a chance to speak 730 00:43:36,760 --> 00:43:39,680 the truth into someone's life in the middle of suffering, we 731 00:43:39,680 --> 00:43:42,440 grounded in scripture. We saturated in scripture. 732 00:43:42,480 --> 00:43:46,360 We drowned in scripture. I got a message from a friend 733 00:43:46,360 --> 00:43:49,400 this last week. They, they, they, they don't go 734 00:43:49,400 --> 00:43:50,400 to our church. They live out of state. 735 00:43:50,640 --> 00:43:53,400 And they're going through something awful right now. 736 00:43:53,400 --> 00:43:55,720 And they watched my sermon on forgiving others. 737 00:43:57,520 --> 00:44:00,520 And they have this really deep, really raw wound from someone 738 00:44:00,520 --> 00:44:02,480 that betrayed them in such an intimate way. 739 00:44:02,480 --> 00:44:04,800 And they show no remorse. And they're, and they're 740 00:44:04,800 --> 00:44:07,880 actually blaming my friend. They're gaslighting them. 741 00:44:08,080 --> 00:44:09,880 And so they listen to my sermon. Here's what they said. 742 00:44:10,120 --> 00:44:13,240 No, I can't forgive them because they don't deserve it. 743 00:44:24,480 --> 00:44:30,440 Now, that's not biblical. That's pain and agony and 744 00:44:30,440 --> 00:44:37,320 emotion making an unbiblical opinion seem justifiable, and I 745 00:44:37,320 --> 00:44:41,520 can't change that. I could gently. 746 00:44:41,520 --> 00:44:46,680 Point back to scripture. And I can be patient and I can 747 00:44:46,680 --> 00:44:49,880 pray for them. That's Step 4. 748 00:44:50,200 --> 00:44:54,360 Be patient and pray we got to be patient. 749 00:44:54,920 --> 00:44:57,000 Hearts don't change quickly. Amen. 750 00:44:58,040 --> 00:45:00,880 They are a stubborn, fibrous thing. 751 00:45:03,360 --> 00:45:05,440 Think crock pots, not microwaves. 752 00:45:06,800 --> 00:45:10,520 You try to microwave someone's heart for three minutes, you're 753 00:45:10,680 --> 00:45:14,120 just going to get something hardened and stubborn. 754 00:45:15,480 --> 00:45:21,120 So instead it's low and slow. We walk with people through 755 00:45:21,120 --> 00:45:23,720 their addictions. We walk with people in their 756 00:45:23,720 --> 00:45:25,720 messes. We walk with people as they 757 00:45:25,720 --> 00:45:28,760 grieve and as they heal. I can't. 758 00:45:28,800 --> 00:45:31,600 I cannot force people to change. In fact, I can't make people 759 00:45:31,600 --> 00:45:33,480 love Jesus. I can't change hearts. 760 00:45:33,600 --> 00:45:35,640 I can't heal wounds. And you can't either. 761 00:45:35,640 --> 00:45:39,280 Only God can do that. But you can pray for them. 762 00:45:43,080 --> 00:45:44,760 And I mean actually praying for them. 763 00:45:44,760 --> 00:45:47,040 I don't mean the little emoji thing on their social media 764 00:45:47,040 --> 00:45:51,600 post. I mean you can take their names 765 00:45:51,680 --> 00:45:54,640 and you can go into the throne room of the King of Kings and 766 00:45:54,640 --> 00:45:57,120 the Lord of Lords with their name on your lips and in 767 00:45:57,160 --> 00:46:00,720 humility and boldness as a child of God, you can lift up their 768 00:46:00,720 --> 00:46:04,240 need to God over and over and over again. 769 00:46:04,920 --> 00:46:09,560 You can pray for them and be patient. 770 00:46:12,600 --> 00:46:14,760 And we're going to finish our sermon doing that today. 771 00:46:14,760 --> 00:46:18,040 Go ahead and stand. We're going to sing a song. 772 00:46:18,040 --> 00:46:19,040 And here's what we're going to. Do. 773 00:46:19,280 --> 00:46:21,760 I want to offer you the opportunity, the chance to come 774 00:46:21,760 --> 00:46:25,440 up to the altar today and pray for that person in your life 775 00:46:25,440 --> 00:46:30,440 that you're trying to walk with. Maybe it's somebody that you're 776 00:46:30,440 --> 00:46:32,440 close to. Maybe it's a friend, maybe it's 777 00:46:32,440 --> 00:46:34,560 a relative. Maybe you're the one that's 778 00:46:34,560 --> 00:46:37,880 struggling and you need to come up and pray. 779 00:46:37,880 --> 00:46:39,600 Maybe you want to pray alone at the altar. 780 00:46:39,680 --> 00:46:41,640 Maybe you want someone to pray with. 781 00:46:43,680 --> 00:46:49,040 Our primary mechanism of encouraging is the Holy Spirit 782 00:46:49,160 --> 00:46:51,280 through believers, encouraging other believers. 783 00:46:51,280 --> 00:46:53,480 It is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 784 00:46:55,720 --> 00:46:56,920 So we would love to pray with you. 785 00:46:56,920 --> 00:47:04,680 We would love to encourage you. I want you to come and be 786 00:47:04,680 --> 00:47:06,480 encouraged today. Let me leave you with one final 787 00:47:06,480 --> 00:47:08,000 story and then we'll respond to this. 788 00:47:09,080 --> 00:47:12,920 Every Sunday morning at 6:30, a number of us elders, deacons and 789 00:47:12,920 --> 00:47:15,680 and church members join together at the church office and we pray 790 00:47:15,680 --> 00:47:18,320 for about an hour. We, we just pray. 791 00:47:18,320 --> 00:47:20,560 We pray for other churches and we pray for their congregations. 792 00:47:20,560 --> 00:47:22,440 We pray for their pastors. We pray for this service. 793 00:47:22,440 --> 00:47:25,360 We pray for the visitors and the volunteers and the speakers and 794 00:47:25,360 --> 00:47:26,360 the worship. We just pray. 795 00:47:27,160 --> 00:47:29,280 And as we were starting to pray today, I looked around. 796 00:47:29,280 --> 00:47:31,600 I realized that every single person sitting in the room 797 00:47:31,600 --> 00:47:34,440 praying for you was going through significant suffering in 798 00:47:34,440 --> 00:47:37,320 their life. Children that have rebelled, 799 00:47:37,520 --> 00:47:40,400 children that were far from God, significant health problems, 800 00:47:40,520 --> 00:47:43,120 chaos in their life. And yet they were there at 6:30 801 00:47:43,200 --> 00:47:48,040 to pray for you. Say me, they were being prepared 802 00:47:48,040 --> 00:47:50,760 through their suffering and the comfort to be ready to comfort 803 00:47:50,760 --> 00:47:55,560 you. And so early in the morning you 804 00:47:55,560 --> 00:47:58,680 were on their lips and on their minds and on their hearts to 805 00:47:58,680 --> 00:48:02,160 take you in to the throne room of God to pray for you as you 806 00:48:02,160 --> 00:48:04,600 would come in today. That is the model the Second 807 00:48:04,600 --> 00:48:07,920 Corinthians is telling us is that we will be comforted in our 808 00:48:07,920 --> 00:48:10,720 affliction in order to prepare us to comfort one another. 809 00:48:12,120 --> 00:48:17,080 So we want to pray for you. We want to pray with you so you 810 00:48:17,080 --> 00:48:19,320 come as the Lord leads. We love you guys.