0:05 [Music]
0:07 welcome to back to the Bible radio
0:09 featuring best-selling author an
0:11 internationally known Bible teacher
0:14 Warren where's being the Apostle Paul
0:17 had a secret a secret he had carried in
0:19 his heart for 14 years and the only
0:22 reason he revealed the secret was to
0:24 defend his ministry and to glorify God
0:28 the secret was that God had taken Paul
0:31 to heaven the record of this is in 2nd
0:34 Corinthians chapter 12 and then after
0:37 Paul had come back from heaven God gave
0:40 to Paul a special burden to carry he
0:43 permitted Satan to buffett Paul and give
0:47 him a thorn in the flesh 2nd Corinthians
0:50 chapter 12 verse 7 and lest I should be
0:52 exalted above measure through the
0:55 abundance of the revelations there was
0:57 given to me a thorn in the flesh the
1:00 messenger of Satan to buff at me lest I
1:03 should be exalted above measure twice
1:06 Paul repeats that doesn't he for this
1:08 thing I besought the Lord three times
1:10 that it might depart from me and he said
1:14 unto me my grace is sufficient for thee
1:17 for my strength is made perfect in weakness
1:18 weakness
1:20 most gladly therefore will I rather
1:23 glory in my infirmities that the power
1:27 of Christ may rest upon me therefore I
1:29 take pleasure in infirmities in
1:32 reproaches in necessities in
1:35 persecutions in de-stresses for Christ's
1:41 sake for when I am weak then am i strong
1:45 Paul was a man who suffered everybody
1:46 suffers in one way or another God's
1:49 people suffer in the world you shall
1:52 have tribulation said the Lord Jesus the
1:54 sufferings of this present time wrote
1:57 the Apostle Paul everybody suffers some
2:01 with bodily pain physical pain you're
2:03 listening to me right now and your body
2:05 hurts and perhaps the doctor can't do
2:08 much about it there are those who suffer
2:11 with emotional pain with mental agony
2:13 loved ones have broken their hearts
2:15 perhaps you're going through some dark
2:18 valley of bereavement
2:21 disappointment it seems that all of
2:23 God's people suffer there's pressure of
2:26 one kind or another and this raises the
2:28 question how shall we deal with
2:30 suffering in our lives
2:32 I think Paul can teach us something here
2:34 can t he'd been up to heaven and
2:37 experienced glory but now he's on earth
2:39 going through suffering and through that
2:41 suffering he experiences the grace of
2:45 God Paul tells us in 2nd Corinthians
2:49 chapter 12 verses 7 through 10 that
2:51 there are three possible responses to
2:55 suffering here they are we can seek to
2:58 escape suffering in verse 8 for this
3:00 thing I besought the Lord three times
3:03 that it might depart from me and so
3:05 there's the first response we can seek
3:08 to escape suffering secondly we can seek
3:11 to endure suffering just put up with it
3:13 and say well I'll grit my teeth and
3:16 clench my fist and keep a stiff upper
3:19 lip and keep my chin up that's kind of a
3:22 weird posture to be in but we try it we
3:26 can seek to endure suffering we can seek
3:28 to escape suffering and look upon
3:31 suffering as an enemy or we can seek to
3:33 endure suffering and then suffering
3:36 becomes a master a master telling us
3:39 what to do controlling our lives sapping
3:43 away our strength upsetting our mind or
3:46 we can take a third response to
3:49 suffering we can seek to enlist our
3:52 suffering and then suffering is not an
3:54 enemy or a master it becomes a servant
3:57 it works for us instead of working
4:00 against us now we're going to look at
4:03 these three responses today I want to
4:05 talk with you about trying to escape
4:07 suffering or endure suffering and then
4:09 we're going to look at how God enabled
4:12 Paul to enlist his suffering make his
4:15 suffering work for him and not against
4:18 him first of all in verse eight we
4:20 discover Paul tried to escape his
4:22 suffering don't criticize him this is a
4:25 normal response I confess to you that
4:28 when I am suffering I pray about it the
4:31 way Paul did the way Jesus did three times
4:31 times
4:33 Lord in the garden parade if it be
4:37 possible let this cup pass from me
4:40 God made our bodies to warn us when
4:42 something is wrong and we should do
4:45 something about it when there's pain in
4:47 the body the body is flashing a red
4:49 signal and saying you better do
4:51 something about this there's nothing
4:55 wrong with seeking means to alleviate
4:57 suffering you know if your car has
4:59 something wrong with it you take it to
5:00 the garage and the mechanic fixes that
5:02 if your body has something wrong with it
5:04 you don't just pray about it you should
5:06 pray don't question about that but you
5:09 ought to do something about it I used to
5:11 wonder why did Paul have Luke running
5:12 around with him well Luke was a doctor
5:15 and Luke ministered to Paul's needs
5:17 don't be one of these super spiritual
5:20 ultra pious people who says well I'm
5:21 never going to do anything about my
5:24 suffering God wants us to use the means
5:27 that are available to take care of the
5:30 physical needs in our lives the Jewish
5:32 people grew up thinking that if you were
5:34 sick it was because you were out of the
5:37 will of God and then job came along and
5:40 Joe broke that bubble right away didn't
5:42 he here was a godly man who was still
5:45 suffering now the Jewish people have the
5:48 attitude that if you were suffering God
5:50 was punishing you if you were suffering
5:52 it was a mark that there was sin in your
5:55 life and therefore there's something
5:57 wrong if you're just confess your sin
5:58 the suffering will go away well it
6:00 doesn't work that way but there's
6:02 nothing wrong with seeking to escape
6:06 suffering sometimes God does use
6:08 suffering a chase on us and sometimes
6:10 when we do confess our sins he removes
6:12 the suffering but not always here was a
6:15 case where Paul prayed three times Lord
6:16 take it away I don't have to have
6:19 exactly what Paul had but Paul prayed
6:21 Lord take it away I have letters to
6:23 write I have churches to found I have
6:25 people to counsel I have trips to make
6:28 please take away this suffering and God
6:31 didn't do it now you know if you cannot
6:33 escape suffering you've got to do
6:35 something else oh I've met people in my
6:37 ministry who get bitter oh they get so
6:39 bitter against God and they get bitter
6:42 against their family they get envious of
6:44 people who are healthy they give up on life
6:45 life
6:47 and they get mad at God because God
6:49 didn't take away their suffering Paul
6:52 didn't do that Paul didn't do that and
6:55 you shouldn't do it there is some pain
6:57 that we're going to endure because God
7:00 has a plan for our lives and so our
7:03 first response and our normal response
7:06 we can seek to escape suffering we can
7:09 seek to endure suffering now Paul was a
7:12 Roman and you know the Romans were great
7:16 courageous people the stoic attitude of
7:19 just endure it some of you have read the
7:22 writings of Marcus Aurelius the great
7:25 stoic philosopher who who tells you how
7:27 to endure anything you know if you've
7:29 got a broken arm well just endure it
7:32 don't go to the doctor and Paul was the
7:34 Roman who could have said well I'll just
7:36 endure this I'm a strong man I've been
7:37 through a lot I've been through
7:39 shipwreck I've been through whippings
7:41 I've been through scourgings I can
7:43 endure this but you know not everybody
7:47 has that kind of power not everybody has
7:50 that kind of inner resource of
7:53 personality to endure suffering and
7:55 furthermore God doesn't want us to live
7:58 like that I'll tell you why when all you
8:01 do is endure your suffering you are
8:04 using your energy on the inside to keep
8:06 yourself together and you have no energy
8:08 left for the outside to serve other
8:12 people if you're using your mental and
8:15 emotional and nervous energy just to
8:18 endure your pain you know what happens
8:20 you get irritable and you get
8:22 short-tempered and if you're hard to
8:24 live with and the energy you should be
8:26 using for your husband your wife your
8:29 children ministering for the Lord's
8:31 people you're using all that energy on
8:33 the inside and you haven't got any power
8:35 left for the outside and you're tired
8:39 all the time and irritable and more than
8:42 that life gets very self-centered I I
8:44 have been through it I I know what it's
8:45 like to hurt I know what it's like to
8:48 lie in an intensive care ward with
8:51 needles and tubes every place they could
8:53 find an opening I know what that's like
8:57 I know how self-centered you can get it
8:59 used to bother me that when I was
9:02 and going through pain that it was hard
9:04 to pray now I've met some saints who
9:07 just think that a sickbed is north
9:09 glorious place in the world what can be
9:13 it can be I was reading aw Tozer one day
9:14 and toes are admitted that when he
9:16 wasn't feeling good he had a hard time
9:18 praying and I said hallelujah you're a
9:20 brother to me because I appreciate that
9:23 God knows that we're human and God says
9:26 now look if you can't escape suffering
9:28 and I don't want you just to endure
9:31 suffering there is something better than
9:34 this what is it learning how to enlist suffering
9:35 suffering
9:39 you see God did not cure Paul I don't
9:40 want to get in any arguments with
9:43 anybody but God doesn't always heal and
9:47 God is not always obligated to heal we
9:49 discovered in our previous study that
9:52 God took Paul to heaven to show him
9:54 glory that he might be able to endure
9:58 his suffering and God gave him this
10:01 physical suffering on earth to keep him
10:03 from being proud of the fact that he'd
10:05 gone to heaven lest I should be exalted
10:08 above measure lest I should be exalted
10:11 above measure Paul knew why he suffered
10:13 now sometimes we don't know why job
10:15 didn't know why he suffered the whole
10:17 thing was a mystery he hadn't read the
10:19 book of Job he hadn't listened into the
10:22 conversation between Satan and Jehovah
10:24 job did not know why he was suffering
10:27 but he believed that he had integrity
10:29 that he was right before God and he
10:31 believed that when it was all over God
10:33 would be glorified when he has brought
10:34 me forth he's gonna bring me forth like
10:39 pure gold said job so Paul says to us
10:41 you can seek to escape suffering and God
10:43 may answer your prayer and he may
10:45 deliver you if so give him thanks and
10:48 glorify Him you can seek to endure
10:50 suffering but if you do that suffering
10:53 becomes your master and really suffering
10:56 ought to become your servant and so we
10:58 are going to discover how it is possible
11:00 for us as Christians to hurt and still
11:04 be happy to suffer and still experience
11:07 glory how it's possible for God in our
11:13 lives to transform trials into triumph
11:15 the great theologian PT Forsythe has
11:18 written it is a greater thing to pray
11:22 for pains conversion than its removal
11:26 may I repeat that it is a greater thing
11:30 to pray for pains conversion than its
11:33 removal now I'm not saying God is not
11:36 glorified by healing I have experienced
11:38 it I have been snatched from the from
11:42 the jaws of death I know but I tell you
11:44 this when the grace of God goes to work
11:46 in a Christians life and pain is
11:50 converted into power and trial is
11:52 converted into triumph and suffering is
11:56 converted into glory God is glorified [Music]
11:59 [Music]
12:02 suffering is not working against us it
12:04 is working for us
12:07 we can transform our trials into triumph
12:12 God does not always remove the thorn but
12:15 God can always transform the experience
12:19 into one of glory and blessing the
12:22 answer to our prayer might be not the
12:25 removal of the thorn but instead a
12:28 growing understanding of what this thorn
12:29 really means
12:33 now what steps can you and I take to
12:36 transform our suffering into a servant
12:39 instead of an enemy or a master what
12:41 steps can you and I take so that we are
12:44 enlisting our suffering and it is
12:47 working for us and not against a step
12:50 number one accept it as God's gift
12:53 don't fight it don't rebel against it
12:55 don't get bitter against God he says
12:58 there was given to me a thorn in the
13:00 flesh strange gift but this gift was
13:03 given from God's heart because God loved
13:07 Paul he had to keep Paul humble I have
13:09 said this before permit me to repeat it
13:11 just put your hands out in front of you
13:15 your open hands suppose all that God did
13:18 was fill these hands with blessing he
13:21 just kept pouring out abundant blessing
13:23 filling up your hands pretty soon you'd
13:26 get unsteady you'd start to totter and
13:26 then you'd
13:29 flat on your face and so when God fills
13:32 my hands with blessing he always puts
13:34 some burdens on my back to balance me to
13:36 keep me from falling over you see the
13:39 purpose of blessing and the purpose of
13:41 burden is to build character
13:43 God wants to build Christian character
13:45 he wants to make us more like the Lord
13:47 Jesus Christ and he was a man of sorrows
13:50 and acquainted with grief I have yet to
13:53 meet a mature Christian I mean a really
13:55 mature Christian who has the beauty of
13:58 God about his life who has not suffered
14:02 step number one accept your suffering as
14:06 God's gift don't fight against it learn
14:09 to cooperate with whatever God gives to
14:12 you is that's hard to do well yes it is
14:15 I admit that it's much easier for me to
14:18 pray O God take it away then O Lord
14:21 transform it but you see if I fight the
14:23 will of God I'm fighting the blessing if
14:26 I fight the will of God I'm fighting the
14:29 purpose of God don't argue with God's
14:32 will Amy Carmichael used to say our
14:35 prayer is not thy will be changed but
14:38 thy will be done that's helped me step
14:42 one accept your suffering as God's gift
14:44 step two
14:47 listen for God's message you see Paul
14:49 said alright Lord I'm going to accept
14:51 this I'm not going to fight I'm not
14:53 going to get bitter I'm not going to
14:54 argue with you I'm not going to try to
14:57 second-guess you and then at that point
15:01 he said unto me my grace is sufficient
15:04 for thee there is a message in every
15:08 experience of life Charles Spurgeon who
15:11 was a great preacher and also a man who
15:13 suffered considerably physically and
15:15 emotionally people persecuted him lied
15:18 about him his wife was a semi invalid
15:20 Charles Spurgeon used to say that the
15:24 promises of God never shines so brightly
15:26 as in the furnace of affliction that's
15:29 true oh how many times we have opened
15:32 the Word of God and God has spoken to us
15:34 now when Paul had this experience of
15:37 going up to heaven recorded in the first
15:40 part of 2nd Corinthians 12 he heard
15:41 God speak but he couldn't share it with
15:45 anybody God said things that no man
15:47 could utter but when Paul had this
15:50 experience of God's grace he could share
15:52 it with us now you may disagree with me
15:54 perfectly all right I would much rather
15:56 suffer on earth and have something to
15:59 share with somebody else then go to
16:01 heaven and hear something I had to keep
16:03 quiet you know we need each other we
16:05 need to encourage each other preacher
16:07 friend you're going through suffering
16:09 out there the furnace is hot and the
16:13 battle is is is hot and heavy listen for
16:16 God's message to you because that's the
16:18 thing God wants you to hear so just rest
16:20 in his word don't go by your feelings
16:25 don't go by explanations don't listen to
16:27 the empty words of people who don't know
16:29 what you're going through just wait for
16:32 God to speak oh what a blessing it is to
16:35 listen to the voice of God in the hour
16:39 of suffering step number one accept your
16:42 suffering as God's gift not as a weapon
16:45 to tear you down but as a tool to build
16:48 you up not as an evidence of his
16:51 displeasure but as an evidence of his
16:53 love accept your suffering as God's gift
16:57 step to listen for God's message God has
17:00 a word to share with you my grace is
17:03 sufficient for the naaah step 3 draw
17:07 upon God's grace draw upon the grace of
17:10 God first Peter 4:10 calls it the
17:12 manifold grace of God that means
17:14 many-colored the minicar the variegated
17:17 grace of God when I was a little child
17:18 my mother had sent me off to the store
17:21 to buy thread for her she used to do
17:24 crocheting and various kinds of
17:27 needlework and she'd say now get me some
17:30 variegated thread that means many
17:32 colored you know life as many colored
17:34 you have your dark days you have your
17:37 blue Mondays they may last all week and
17:40 God says I have grace for every
17:43 situation John 1:16 and of his fullness
17:46 have all we received in grace upon grace
17:49 James 4:6 tells me he giveth more grace
17:52 first Peter 5:10 tells me he is the god
17:53 of all grace
17:55 who has called us to his eternal glory
17:58 now grace is not something you earn
18:01 grace is not something you bargained for
18:04 grace is not something you merit grace
18:07 is free and grace is sufficient and God
18:09 said Paul I'm not going to change your
18:13 situation I'm gonna change you I'm not
18:15 going to take away the thorn I'm going
18:18 to add something to you you see pain can
18:21 be conquered either by taking away the
18:24 pain or by adding a new ingredient and
18:26 that new ingredient is the grace of God
18:29 my grace is sufficient for thee for my
18:31 strength is made perfect in weakness
18:33 where did Paul get his strength out of
18:37 weakness now listen closely strength
18:40 that knows itself to be strength is
18:44 weakness but weakness that knows itself
18:47 to be weakness is strength when you know
18:49 you're strong you become weak
18:51 let him that standeth take heed lest he
18:54 fall people say well I can go through
18:56 this I've been through surgery before
18:57 I'm strong Oh
18:59 but every one is different every
19:00 situation is different well I've been
19:03 through bereavement before well but
19:06 every one is different if you know you
19:09 are strong my friend you're weak but if
19:11 you know you are weak then you are
19:14 strong and Paul got the strength that
19:16 carried him through because he knew he
19:18 was weak that's why he gloried and
19:19 boasted in his weaknesses his
19:23 infirmities because when he was weak
19:25 then he was strong draw upon the grace
19:28 of God he's the God of all grace he'll
19:31 give you more grace except your
19:35 suffering as God's gift listen for God's
19:40 message draw upon God's grace he'll turn
19:44 your trials into Tabernacles of glory
19:47 which leads to our fourth step live for
19:48 God's glory
19:51 now if Paul had said I take pleasure in
19:53 infirmities I take pleasure in
19:55 reproaches insults necessities
19:58 persecutions de-stresses and he left out
20:00 that little phrase for Christ's sake
20:01 we'd think he was psychologically
20:04 unstable nobody takes pleasure in
20:07 weaknesses in in insults and
20:09 offering and so forth but when you add
20:12 that little phrase for for Christ's sake
20:15 that changes it a mother will suffer for
20:17 her child a father will suffer for his
20:20 child a soldier will suffer for his
20:23 country a Christian will suffer for his
20:25 Savior and so here's the fourth step
20:27 lived for God's glory it's for Jesus
20:30 sake it's not just for our sake or for
20:32 the church's sake or for the family's
20:36 sake it's for Jesus sake and when you're
20:38 doing it for Jesus sake that gives you
20:40 the greatest motive and all the world to
20:44 glorify God it's it's so marvelous that
20:46 you're you go through suffering you go
20:48 through difficulty you go through trial
20:50 and you draw up on God's grace you said
20:52 on God you'd be glorified it's not
20:55 important that I'm comfortable but it is
20:57 important that I'm conformable to God's
21:00 will it's not important that I have what
21:02 I want it is important that you
21:03 accomplish what you want to accomplish
21:05 you know what happens god uses you to be
21:09 a blessing how many millions of people
21:11 have read of Paul's experience and been
21:14 helped by it how many millions of people
21:16 who have gone through the trials of life
21:20 have identified with Paul they thanked
21:23 God for Paul's faithfulness you see you
21:26 can be a blessing to other people the
21:27 Lord Jesus led the way didn't he
21:32 he took a crown of thorns and made a
21:34 crown of glory out of it
21:37 he took a cross and turned it into glory
21:40 the sufferings of this present time are
21:42 not worthy to be compared with the glory
21:47 that shall be revealed in us don't just
21:50 try to escape suffering if God heals if
21:53 God removes the paint marvellous don't
21:55 just try to endure suffering that'll
21:56 wear you out
22:00 learn to enlist your suffering accept it
22:03 as God's gift listen for God's message
22:08 draw upon God's grace and live for God's
22:11 glory and God will come to you and say
22:13 my grace is sufficient for you don't
22:16 give up don't give up together we're
22:20 going to bring glory to Jesus Christ
22:22 if you miss part of the program or you'd
22:24 like to listen again just come to back
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22:29 again for more wisdom from God's word
22:31 back to the Bible leading you forward in
22:35 your relationship with Jesus Christ you
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