[0:00] this message was recorded at vision Baptist Church in Alfreda Georgia this is this next message in our series in the book of 2nd Corinthians entitled we faint not all right you can take your Bibles and open them to 2nd Corinthians if you would 2nd Corinthians chapter 4 and while you're turning I'm gonna ask Bo if he would to put up a Romans chapter 10 for me Romans chapter 10 verse 11 and I want to read a verse to you just a second do you know when you're in love with somebody you're not ashamed of them how many of you would agree that say you man you know if you love with somebody you're not ashamed of them when maybe maybe you can imagine a guy who's got a girlfriend and he's afraid or he's embarrassed to tell anybody their boyfriend and girlfriend well that's probably not gonna make a very good relationship probably not gonna last I I don't know if you can imagine but could it is it possible that a man could be embarrassed by his wife or embarrassed by her husband I would hope not but when you really love somebody you're not embarrassed about it you're not ashamed of it you want to make it clear you want everybody to know you wanted to you want to introduce them you want to say that's who they are well you know what baptism and church membership are two things that scream to everybody that scream to everybody I'm not ashamed of Jesus they scream to everybody I'm not ashamed of
[1:23] Jesus look what your Bible says in Romans chapter 10 verse 11 the Bible says where the scripture saith whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed if you really believe if you really believe you're not ashamed if you really believe you're not ashamed that is an interesting verse because it comes right after Romans 10 9 and 10 where Romans 10 9 and 10 says this that if you believe in your heart and confess with your mouth in other words if you really love Jesus you believe inside but you say it out loud you believe inside but you say it out loud and so and if you really believe you're not ashamed you know I was always I've only had one true love personally and that was that'd be Betty and I had girlfriends but and I wouldn't be ashamed of them but it wouldn't take them long to be ashamed of me and I would be an ex I had more exes than I ever had you know girls that lasted till I found one I finally found one it would stick with me and buddy I am not letting her out of my sight can you say amen right there and so so what happens is I want you to look at the verse I want you to look at Romans 10 11 if you've not been baptized you ought to stand up and say hey I want everybody to know man I did believe I have believed and I want the world to know I believe and if and then you ought to be a part of a church so you just tell people man I do love Jesus I attend a church I'm a part of a church we were sitting at breakfast this morning the some of the men met for breakfast this morning and we were sitting there and the waitress came out and and she knew one of the men and she went up to she said so are you a part of vision now too and he said I'll go to vision you know like I don't know what was he gonna say crawling to the tables I don't know these guys I mean it's kind of like he was out there with us you know and so just remember I challenge you as a Christian don't be ashamed of Jesus don't be ashamed of
[3:13] Jesus make him known and that's what we're looking at in Romans chapter in 2nd Corinthians chapter 4 if you go ahead and take your Bible and turn there making Jesus known no matter what the cost we're going to read there and we're going to we're going to consider this passage of scripture and Paul's goal is to make Jesus known he wants everybody to know that Jesus loves us that Jesus died on the cross that Jesus purchased our salvation that it is about what God has done through Jesus Christ he wants everybody to know and it really doesn't matter to him what it cost him because he's not ashamed he is excited he is blessed that he has saved and he wants to tell everybody so read with me if you would 2nd Corinthians chapter 4 verse 7 and if you got your ink pen you're going on a mark a couple of things 2nd Corinthians chapter 4 verse 7 the Bible says but we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us and we saw that Sunday night but I want you to underline this that the excellency of the power may be of God you know why God chose to use weak people like us he chose to use people like us because in using us it would be very obvious that we wouldn't have what it takes to get the job done and people look and say man you could have chose a lot smarter people back in 1st
[4:27] Corinthians chapter 1 he said there aren't many of you that are wise there aren't many of you that are mighty there aren't many of you that are noble just to be honest you guys are pretty much the opposite of anything that would anybody would be impressed with and Paul said I know that's true about me he said because I have the treasure have the ministry have the Holy Spirit have the Word of God it's in me but I'm just an earthen vessel I'm just a clay pot but the God of heaven is who is great now look at you at verse 8 Paul said we are troubled on every side yet not distressed we are perplexed but not in despair persecuted but not forsaken uh cast down but not destroyed if you would look at verse 8 and 9 just quickly look what it says Paul's going through all kinds of stuff and he's going to make it real clear he does it to get the gospel to him he's been put in jail he's been beaten I'll show you some verses tonight and Paul said I've been through a lot I've been through a lot because I want you to know the truth I've been through a lot because I want you to know about salvation I've been through a lot because I want to get the gospel to you just stop just a second think about this every mother knows that as a mother you went through a lot to get your children here every mother knows you went through a lot to get your children to the age of six you know you've paid a pretty high price and Paul just said this
[5:46] I love you and it might have been tough and I might have been cast down but I wasn't destroyed and I might have had some really rough days but that's okay I made it through because my goal was to get the gospel message I'll prove that to you look at verse 10 look at verse 10 always bearing about in the body in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus that the life of Jesus might be made manifest in our body did you hear what Paul said he said I always carry the death of Jesus that's like I'm always dying my whole life seems to be dying things going wrong and life's not going good but look what he wanted underline it put a circle on the word that look in verse 10 and circle the word that and then underline this that the life of also of Jesus might be made what's the word might be made what might be made what manifest where in our body Jesus and you know what Paul said you know what I've been I've been troubled I've had problems I've got all this stuff going on he said but it doesn't matter he said I go around with the death on me but I do it so that
[6:52] Jesus might be shown that Jesus might be made known I want everybody to know about Jesus it doesn't matter to me what it costs me look at you look at verse 11 for we which are alive we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus sake that's almost the same thing he said in verse 10 he's almost repeating himself bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus verse 11 delivered unto death for Jesus sake and look what he says put a circle around that in verse 11 circle the word that look at this the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh Paul said I'm going to take this body God gave me and I'm going to use it for everything I've got I'm going to do everything in my power they can beat me they can put me in jail they can do anything they want to do but I want to make Jesus known I want to make Jesus known whatever happens whatever goes wrong I want to make Jesus known that was Paul's heart that was Paul's desire now real quickly to kind of set the scene you do know that there there are people in Judaizers or people that are religious people that just hate Paul because
[8:01] Paul's bringing the gospel of grace and religion always hates truth see religion likes to keep people under control religion likes to have a thumb on you religion likes to say these are the rules and you obey them religion likes to say I absolve you of your sin religion likes to say we're in charge and Paul came to say no you're not in charge Jesus is in charge and you didn't die for us and you didn't pay our price and what we we don't need to get circumcised and we don't need to get baptized we don't need to do anything else we need to know about Jesus and what Jesus did on the cross so they're attacking him and they're they're out to get him and Paul's under attack by the way that's a normal place for Christians to be did you know that if you talk about Jesus you're gonna you're gonna you're gonna be in a fight the Bible says in Ephesians chapter 6 verse 3 we don't have time to go look there very much but it says we wrestle not against flesh and blood it's not people we're fighting with but principalities against powers against the rules of darkness of this world against spiritual wickedness in high places Paul said it's not the Judaizers the devil wants to stop the gospel from getting out the devil doesn't want people to hear that Jesus paid the price now listen to this religion will try to get you to God but religion can never get you all the way religion will get you close I mean religion will get you it may get you up to 99 but if you're 1% short you'll still go to hell it can't get you there religion can't get you there works you could you man can you let me just tell you this human beings can overcome every addiction and every problem let me just tell you psychology has a lot of good stuff and philosophy has a lot of good stuff just doesn't have enough good stuff it could get you up to about 99 but you still won't be whole you'll still have a hole inside of you because you need Jesus that's what's going on here and Paul said
[9:54] I'm telling you about Jesus those Judaizers came down there and they said look you need to be moral you don't need to be eating pork you you you need to you know you need to get circumcised the apostle no no no no I'm telling you about Jesus and what he did on the cross of Calvary so they attack him they attack him they said he didn't even look good I showed you that verse in second Corinthians 10 10 they said you're not good looking and you can't even talk well and there they need to pull him down if they can attack Paul maybe they can hurt his message but Paul said you can beat me up but you can't stop me you can beat me up but you can't stop me you can attack me but you can't stop me I'm going to keep telling people about Jesus Paul even said this I know I'm a nobody in in first Corinthians 15 9 he said I am the least of the apostles and I'm not meet I'm not worthy to be called I don't even belong for the fact that God's allowed me to be an apostle let me tell you I'm not worthy of that I don't belong I don't I'll not have that title with my name because I persecuted the church of God first Corinthians 15 9 in first Timothy chapter 1 verses 12 and 13 he said he said let me just tell you he counted me faithful and he put me in the ministry I obtained mercy I obtained mercy I believe believe me if I can serve God it's because I obtained mercy not because I'm I'm anybody religion so often wants you to be impressed with a person they want you to be impressed with their person and the apostle Paul would say no I'm just an earthen vessel I'm just a nobody I'm a nobody I don't deserve anything honestly I shouldn't be that one to talk to you and if there's any going to be anybody's life change in here it won't be by my by my sweet words or my good looks or my way of presenting it that the power will belong to God that's why I put the treasure in earthen vessels second thing I want you to notice here go with me if you would to verses 8 and 9 real quickly let God take care of the vessel let God care for the vessel in verse 8 he said we're troubled on every side yet we're not distressed I want you to know now you need to listen to this God uses trials do you know whose life story you're reading some of you think things go wrong in your life because you're not a good Christian some of you think things go wrong in your life because God's disciplining you and that's what they wanted to say to Paul they want to say Paul you're in jail you're getting beat obviously God's not with you God's not using you God's not protecting you there must have been a there must have been a television preacher telling them they could prosper if they just believe Jesus there must have been a television preacher said if you'll speak the word of faith
[12:23] God will do it for you and Paul said it's not working that way for me Paul said not working that way for me Paul said I'm troubled on every side he said I am perplexed I'm persecuted I'm cast down but believe me I come through every bit of it I'm able to make it through there's no escaping trials there's no escaping trouble nobody in this room should ever expect that we're going to get out of it getting saved didn't get you out of it getting saved would get you through it but it won't get you out of it in second Corinthians chapter 12 verse 9 Paul says that God is glorified through weak vessels you know sometimes we get a little cocky and arrogant don't we man I got that problem every time things go right when I have a good day when I preach a good message or I or I or I I handle somebody right or I handle a good uh counseling session something goes right I'm like man do you see what I did and then everything everything messes up you know every time I get that man do you see what I did you know what happens is God says hey buddy you ain't doing anything you're nobody look at what he said in second Corinthians chapter 12 verse 9 and he said unto them unto me my grace is sufficient for thee for my strength is made perfect in weakness underline that my strength is made perfect in weakness most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ might rest upon me pause and firmities and firmities made it possible that the power of God could rest on him you see as Paul was weak God was strong as as Paul couldn't God could and that's what God's doing in your life perplexed cast down all kinds of problems but God's going to still be working in your life and God's going to bring you through it trials of troubles are simply expected uh and they're expected part of our life chapter 1 and verse 5 for the sufferings of Christ abound in us as your sufferings abound your consolation abounds it's amazing God meets your needs the great stories come because the great stories come because you were in trouble and God did bring you through and you come out saying boy I couldn't handle it I was at the bottom of the barrel and I never thought he'd think it was going to happen but God worked in my life that's what goes on in our life God loves to get you right there where you can't and God likes to get you right where you you realize you can't and everybody else is looking at you and saying he ain't never getting out of this one and then right when you can't God likes to come through and then you have to say boy isn't God good God loves loves weak vessels so he can boast about his greatness not our greatness Paul said in first Corinthians 2 Corinthians chapter 1 verses 8 and 9 he said he was pressed above or pressed out of measure above strength he got to the point he wondered if he would even live he despaired of life and he said but it's a good thing for me verse 9 and verse 9 he said because you know what I had the sentence of death on me made me realize I couldn't trust me and that's one of our big problems is we trust us we think hey it's how smart I am it's how much I study how much I pray how hard I work how many classes I've taken how many friends I have we have I mean we're like let me mount up everything I have and everything I know and God's up in heaven said no you're not going to be able to pull this off first Corinthians chapter 4 verse 11 Paul said even under this present hour we both hunger and thirst and are naked and are buffeted and have no certain dwelling place Paul said man I'll just tell you the truth guys I got it pretty rough in second Corinthians chapter 11 and I won't take the time to read that to you but the apostle Paul says this at the beginning of it he says are they ministers of Christ are they servants these other guys are attacking me these other guys are saying I'm not a man of God are they attacking me he says it's I speak as a fool he's I shouldn't say this but I'll just tell you the truth they may say they're servants of Christ but I am more and then he lists a whole
[16:27] thing you know what he lists he doesn't listen this he doesn't list I started this many churches I prayed this many prayers I baptized this many people I led this many people to Christ and I discipled this that's not what he said he stakes off in the list and he said this is all the mess I've been through now we gauge our life all the good stuff don't we we gauge our life all the good stuff you ever notice man I'm driving a nice car I live in a nice house I got nice clothes hey my children are all doing pretty good got money in the bank God must be proud of me I'm a servant of God can't you tell can't you tell and here's what Paul said they claim to be servants of Christ well I am more let me tell you how I know it and he proceeds to say stuff like this in labors more abundant and stripes above measure and prisons more frequent and deaths off of the Jews I received stripes five times every everything may come against Paul or us but we are never defeated we always have victory through
[17:28] Jesus that's what goes in the verse you will be victorious you are a child of God and you may go through mess and you may have heartache and you may have problems and you'll be able to say with Paul we are troubled on every side but we are not distressed hey we are perplexed but we're not in despair we are persecuted but we are not forsaken we are cast down but we are not destroyed we are his servants and he takes care of us I'll go to verse 10 if you would second Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 10 if you would Paul says always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus now we should write this down somewhere focus on the master not the servant focus on the master not the servant Paul said always bearing about in the body of the dying of the Lord Jesus that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest that the life of Jesus might be made manifest verse 11 that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest you know what Paul was saying Paul said wait a minute wait a minute it's not about my persecutions it's not about my problems it's not about me being persplexed it's not about me being tried above measure it's about making Jesus known I don't care what happens I got to get Jesus name out there they can laugh at me if they want they can fire me if they want they can I can lose my money I got my ministry may not turn out right but I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure they know about Jesus that's what Paul thought was important in Galatians 6 7 Paul said this I bear in my body the marks of Lord Jesus by the way can I just say in this verse he said in my body do you understand that if the apostle Paul were to say he was a scarred man he was a scarred man if he would have taken off his shirt and showed you his back you would have been in shock he was beaten many many times he was stoned and left for dead he was he spent nights in the middle of the ocean holding on to a board hoping he'd live till the next day he knew what it was like to go hungry he knew what it was like to go thirsty he knew like what it was like to be bitten by a snake Paul said this I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus Paul didn't say this I bear in my backside my blisters from sitting in my recliner say amen Paul said I love Jesus and it's cost me I love Jesus and it's cost me in our society loving Jesus seems to go well for us especially if you turn on the tv but this is what he said I bear in my body for Paul's suffering was a way of life in Romans 8 36 he says for thy sake we are killed all the day long we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter Philippians chapter 3 verse 10 the apostle Paul said that I may know him this is interesting Paul said I count everything about me and everything about my family and all about my education and all about everything that went good for me I looked at all of that and said this is a pile of junk and it means nothing to me because I want to know Jesus and look what he said and the power of his resurrection I'm with him there man I want to know you Jesus and I want to know you and your resurrection and then he says this this is one of the hardest verses in the Bible he says and the fellowship of his suffering Lord if you're going to have to suffer I'd like to be right in there with you if there's going to be any Christians getting their heads cut off I'd like to be part of it if there's going to be people getting beat up for loving Jesus I'd like to be in there I'd like to be let what you went through I want to go through I always read that verse I'm like Lord I don't know if I'm ready to pray that yet and then he goes further man if the verse would stop there just a little suffering then he said being made conformable going all the way to death in Colossians 124 he said who now rejoice in my sufferings for you and fill up that which is behind of the of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake which is the church Paul said hey I'm trying
[21:31] to make up for any suffering that still needs to be done I'd like to go ahead and take all that suffering you know what Paul was saying Paul was saying boy this idea of getting the name of Jesus out there letting people know about Jesus and what he did on the cross at Calvary letting people know that their sin would take them to hell but Jesus to take them to heaven Paul said it doesn't matter what it costs it doesn't matter how hard it is I want to do it in Matthew chapter 10 when Jesus was preparing his apostles he let them know I'm preparing you to suffer in Matthew chapter 10 verse 16 he said behold I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves hold it wait a minute wait a minute Jesus I'll leave religion and I will leave the Jews religion and I'll follow you do you have a car for me do you have a nice house for me do you have money for me do you have a good retirement program what do you have for me Jesus he said I'll tell you what I got I'm going to send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves well that's not where I want to go I would like to go out as a sheep with protection from wolves verse 17 he said you better beware of men because they're going to do everything for my sake to hurt you in verse 21 he said your own brother will deliver you up to death in verse 22 have that chapter of Matthew chapter 10 in verse 22 he said this and you shall be hated of all men for my name's sake you shall be hated of all men for my name's sake come on that's a bit much and the thought of going to a mission field and living on some foreign mission field my goodness you mean they won't have Starbucks you mean they don't have Kentucky fried chicken you mean to tell me they don't have what is it sweet green tomatoes what do you mean they don't have you you mean they don't have all the stuff we got here in America I couldn't live that you mean I might have to eat something weird if we were sitting with the guys that Jesus commissioned they'd be going where in the world you come from what planet are you from we all know we're supposed to go and suffer oh here it is man I tell you vision they just too much man they want you to give money to support the church and they want you to give money to go to missionaries they don't understand it's all about me and Jesus would say what planet are you from it's all about making Jesus known it's all about making Jesus known it'll affect the way you tithe it'll affect the way you give it'll affect the way you give to missions it'll affect the way you live because you're going to decide hey it's about making Jesus known you didn't I know you didn't know this but we were going to be hated
[24:11] John chapter 15 verse 18 if the world hates you Jesus talking to his disciples if the world hates you you know it hated me first Jesus said hey guys if the world hates you it hated me before it hated you verse 19 he said if you were of the world if you were one of them they would like you but because you are not of the world and I've chosen you out of the world therefore the world hates you do you understand Paul's like Paul's like I want Jesus known in my flesh I want him known I'm just an earthen vessel and I'm a nobody and I've got all kinds of problems but I want Jesus known I want them to know about him we're like well I'm afraid they might laugh at me if I invite them to church sometimes I've invited people to church and they said they didn't want to come and I was embarrassed can you imagine what can you imagine what the apostles might have thought if we said that they'd be like oh really so you counted it joy that you were able to suffer shame for his name right we said no no no
[25:17] I ain't never doing that again say amen or oh me I'm just reading bible then if you would verse 20 said if they have persecuted me they will also persecute you verse 21 he said but all these things will they do for you unto you for my name's sake for my name's sake because they know not him that sent me here sums it up Paul said man I want Jesus known and I know y'all make fun of me in fact is that Corinthians had written letters and said Paul we are not impressed with you you might can write a nice letter you probably got some secretary helping you do that got all the commas in the right place but just to be honest buddy to look at you you ain't much to look at and I'll give you another one Paul when you speak your letters may be powerful but when you speak it's boring and it ain't that good you just ain't much Paul said well you're right about that hey it's not about me anyway I got the treasure in an earthen vessel and by the way I do have a lot of problems so they were writing and saying stuff like you must have so many problems because you're not good Paul said no I have problems because I'm trying to get the gospel to you and Paul said it's not about me anyway it's about the master it's not about me anyway it's about the master it's about them knowing about Jesus you see here's the key about the whole deal 2 Corinthians chapter 4 it's not really about us it's about him it's not about us it's about him could I just tell you that will kill a church to say that you want a church to grow you tell them it's about you what do y'all need let's do everything the way you want it done let's fix it where God blesses you and you get rich and I get richer but Jesus said church isn't about you it's about Jesus let's pay the price to make him known no matter what it cost us that's what's going on in the passage Paul said in my body in my body
[27:18] I want to make him known you see Paul wasn't saying just by letters or or or nice things any way out of it Paul said nope I'm willing to risk I'm putting some skin in the game I'm putting some skin in the game I'm putting some body in the game I'm willing to pay whatever price it is and many of us are like I won't give my children and I won't give my money and I won't give my talent and I won't give who I am I want God's name to be glorified but let somebody else do it in 2 Corinthians Paul's writing to Corinthians not preachers and he said guys I'm all about making Jesus known and that's where you and I ought to be tonight let's be about making Jesus known it is going to cost us it's going to cost us time it's going to cost us treasure it's going to cost us talent it's going to cost everything we have the day may come before we leave this earth in the rapture the day may come when we will pay a price for being a Christian have you decided I love Jesus and I want to serve him no matter what it costs me are you willing to take up a cross and follow him or is it all about what's comfortable father in heaven I love you and I thank you and I praise you for what you're doing and what you have done and I pray that your name would be glorified and magnified and I pray God that tonight in this room some Christians would surrender all and say boy Lord I want to serve you I want to magnify you want my life to count for you and they would give their hearts and their lives to you and really serve you God I pray you do that tonight work in the Christians lives and God we might have some people here tonight that don't know you yet as their personal savior and I pray God you convict them of their need to serve to be saved tonight that they would trust you put their faith in Christ and what he did on the cross you have been listening to Austin Gardner pastor of vision Baptist church for contact information location service times or more audio and video recordings log on to www.visionbaptist.com comment Lond הרb sign analysis her