WEBVTT

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 Well hello everyone it's the start of Lent and the start of a new teaching series

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 A Passion for Christ and what better way to inspire some passion than to talk about

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 suffering okay this is going to be interesting to be honest if I'm going to share the gospel

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 with someone if I'm going to talk about why I follow Jesus I'm not sure that suffering would

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 be where I'd start you know it's not a very attractive topic but we can't ignore how often

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 Christians suffering and sacrifice appear in the Bible we follow Jesus the suffering servant who

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 told us to take up our cross and follow him Jesus who suffered and died for us and Paul well he talks

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 about suffering a lot in fact he uses the word suffering more than any other writer in the New

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 Testament and this letter of his to Corinthians seems to hold suffering right at its heart

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 which is why as Paul starts the letter with his standard thanksgiving to God

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 he refers to him as the father of compassion and the God of all comfort

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 right from the start what does Paul want the readers to know about God he wants them to know

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 that God is with us when we suffer that he comforts us in our troubles and it's because of that that

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 2 Corinthians has so much to say about following Jesus and suffering and well the first thing we see

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 is that suffering shows us that the gospel matters

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 if the good news of Jesus is just some idea we have a nice way of thinking about life then

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 there's no point in suffering for it it's just bland philosophy it doesn't matter

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 but Paul knew that the gospel he had been called to preach was vital it was life-changing world-changing

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 even and because of that he knew that everything he went through whether good or bad had a purpose

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 look at verse 6 if we are distressed it is for your comfort and salvation that's Paul's perspective

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 the well-being of the church and the opportunity for more people to follow Jesus

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 was well worth the suffering that he and his fellow Christians faced and if you look through

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 the book of Acts you see that the church suffered a great deal right from the beginning but they thought

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 that suffering was worth it for the gospel but that's not all verse 6 continues if we are comforted

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 it is for your comfort which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer

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 so when suffering comes to an end that has a purpose too in this case providing encouragement for

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 other Christians who are still suffering it says well God rescued them surely he'll rescue us too

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 so the point here is not that we need to seek out suffering we don't need to deliberately make our

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 lives hard in order to serve God rather we accept that following Jesus isn't always easy and that if we

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 truly give our whole selves for God's purposes then our own desires for an easy life have to come

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 become second or third or fifth or gonna last now a few years ago I met someone who seemed to really

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 embody this idea he had just become a vicar and had decided to wear his collar all of the time just

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 whenever he went out no matter what he was doing he looked like a vicar and this was an opportunity

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 to see real blessing because he would run into strangers on the street and they'd see him as somebody

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 safe to talk to and so he had the opportunity to share God's love with so many people that might not

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 otherwise experience it but the flip side of that was that he also took a lot of flack for it and not

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 everybody that he met would respond positively to seeing him and he described all sorts of things

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 happening to him he would get yelled at in the street he had somebody follow him home he even had someone

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 throw a brick through his house his house window once and as he described these things he then

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 paused and he sort of went hmm Jesus was crucified

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 and that took the wind out of me I remember sitting there thinking oh my goodness what a challenge

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 but this guy's the real deal you know here's someone who is living with the reality that the son of God

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 died for him and it completely changed his priorities and because of that he put himself in a position yes

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 to experience suffering but also to see God do amazing things which brings us to my second point which is

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 that suffering shows us that God is good it seems a strange thing to say doesn't it surely we say that God is

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 good when good things happen we praise him for the good gifts he gives us and that is right and good but

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 here's the thing one of the most dangerous temptations that Christians can face is to say that God wants nothing more than for us to be healthy wealthy and happy

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 and that if we have everything we want then surely God must be smiling on us or maybe we want to say that yes

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 we go through hard times you know who doesn't but they can't really be that hard because God's looking after us he won't

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 make us go through anything more than we can handle

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 well what's Paul's take on this verse 8 we do not want you to be uninformed brothers and sisters about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia

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 we were under great pressure far beyond our ability to endure so that we despaired of life itself

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 well this following Jesus business is getting more and more attractive by the second isn't it

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 i hope some of you are still around and you haven't switched off your computers and run away

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 we need to hear stuff like this particularly i think in the uk where being a christian is

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 relatively safe you know the church is more part of the establishment in this country you know i've never

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 suffered to the point that i've despaired of life itself the most trouble i've faced for following

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 jesus actually is the occasional bit of ridicule or disagreement but right now we have brothers and

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 sisters around the world who are be facing persecution and imprisonment and even death

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 for their faith and we must not be uninformed of the price some christians pay

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 but verse 9 this happens that we might not rely on ourselves but on god who raises the debt

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 he has delivered us from such a deadly peril and he will deliver us again so there's that perspective thing

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 that's what we're doing again again the church suffers and in their suffering they get to see god

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 at work they face more than they could possibly hope to endure and yet here they are still standing

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 so what else could that mean but that god has rescued them and paul while he has this eternal

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 perspective who is the god that he serves well he's the god who raises the dead who offers

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 eternal life and that god is trustworthy he delivered us once he can do it again

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 now as a church that isn't being persecuted in a country where we can worship and pray openly without

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 fear i think we have a duty to pray for that deliverance to to call out to god to show his goodness for

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 christians who are suffering and through that prayer we will see that we are united with them because and

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 this is my final point suffering shows us that the church is united now how awesome is prayer i think i

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 need constant reminding actually to appreciate prayer more to appreciate that privilege that it is to spend time

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 in the presence of god in the presence of god and to be involved in his saving work you know it's no small

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 thing that paul describes at the end of our reading on him we have set our hope that he will continue

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 to deliver us as you help us by your prayers then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious

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 favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many we can't ignore the significance of that as you help us

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 by your prayers now paul's trust is very much in god but he recognizes the impact that the corinthian

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 church's prayers have had on him these people are hundreds of miles away from where paul is and yet

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 paul says to them you are united with us in our struggles through your prayers you know it's no

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 coincidence that our worship includes prayer for the world it's a product of god's grace and a sign of

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 his desire for us to work with him that he chooses to act through us and in answer to the prayers of

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 his people when we pray for our fellow christians in times of need our voices are raised with theirs

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 to the throne of god and it doesn't matter how far apart we are from them

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 i remember several instances in my teens when a crisis would unite my church normally it would be a

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 serious illness or injury of someone in the community and the call would go out to drop

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 everything and start praying often the church building would be opened up as well and people

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 would come together to pray and we truly became family in those moments the church is

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 at its best when the petty squabbles that are often so visible from the outside give way to the

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 suffering and the need of our sisters and brothers we're reminded in those moments that we are truly

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 one in christ and just as the need of one becomes the need of all of us as we pray so as god answers those

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 prayers the blessing of one becomes a blessing to us all we share in the story we praise god for his goodness we give

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 thanks for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many

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 god wastes nothing whatever your circumstances at the moment i hope that you take that away that god

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 is at work in your comfort and in your suffering

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 we are called simply to offer ourselves trusting that in good times and in bad god is working all things

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 for good so as a church let's share in each other's sufferings let's bear one another's burdens and in doing

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 so let's see the goodness of god as he answers the prayers of his people amen

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 you

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 you