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Pressing On through the Unexpected Msg 3 3 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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  Speaker 1: It is always such a privilege to be here and
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  Speaker 1: to look into the faces of you who will be
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  Speaker 1: the voices and the ones who influence for Christ in
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  Speaker 1: the years ahead. And the good part of that is
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  Speaker 1: that you have no idea of what role you will fill.
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  Speaker 1: And it's good that you don't know that. Seriously, it's
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  Speaker 1: good that you just do what you do now as
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  Speaker 1: a student, to do your best, to learn well, and
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  Speaker 1: take it a day at a time, a season at
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  Speaker 1: a time, knowing that each day and each season moves
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  Speaker 1: you closer to the place where the Lord will have
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  Speaker 1: you serve him, wherever that will be. So it is
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  Speaker 1: an honor to stand here, and I would like to
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  Speaker 1: think help in that preparation, because I would like to
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  Speaker 1: do as much as possible to lower the possibility of
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  Speaker 1: surprise in your life. And for that reason, for the semester,
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  Speaker 1: I'm doing a three part series on things that make
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  Speaker 1: ministry a challenge. You'll recall if you were with us earlier.
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  Speaker 1: I've talked about two areas that make ministry challenging, and
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  Speaker 1: I think all the veterans of ministry here today would
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  Speaker 1: vouch for it. First of all, it would be difficult
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  Speaker 1: people which you will be dealing with throughout your ministry. Thankfully,
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  Speaker 1: they're not all difficult, but there will be some who
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  Speaker 1: will be. And we talked about that, so I won't
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  Speaker 1: go back over that. And that is one area that
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  Speaker 1: will occur. So please do not be surprised when that
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  Speaker 1: happens to you, because there will be those who will
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  Speaker 1: make your ministry difficult to carry out. But greater is
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  Speaker 1: he who is in you than any of those who
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  Speaker 1: will work against you. Second, the fact is, and I
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  Speaker 1: always feel like I'm like Yogi Berra when I say this,
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  Speaker 1: You're going to take yourself into minister. And therein lies
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  Speaker 1: a big part of your problem, because your own humanity
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  Speaker 1: will will be a difficulty. If you are given to impatience,
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  Speaker 1: it'll come out in ministry. If you are given to
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  Speaker 1: a pride, that'll that'll emerge. If you are the type
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  Speaker 1: person who slumps into a depression having gone through a
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  Speaker 1: little time of testing, you'll be depressed again, and perhaps
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  Speaker 1: somewhat often well. The thing that is in your nature
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  Speaker 1: will not be canceled out when you graduate. It will
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  Speaker 1: remain and will begin to emerge, unless, of course, the
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  Speaker 1: spirit of God is in charge and gives you victory
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  Speaker 1: in areas where you now suffer a great deal of
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  Speaker 1: defeat in the flesh. My hope, my prayer for you
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  Speaker 1: is that you will be able to get into and
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  Speaker 1: have an effective ministry that will be beyond your own
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  Speaker 1: struggles with your own humanity. It's a big struggle. Everybody
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  Speaker 1: has it, and I'll not get into that because we
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  Speaker 1: talked about it. The third of the three this is
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  Speaker 1: the one that you really have nothing to do with
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  Speaker 1: or little to do with, And this would be those
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  Speaker 1: things that happen that you never expect, the unexpected surprises
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  Speaker 1: that can cut your legs out from under you and
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  Speaker 1: take their toll on your effectiveness. Every person I know
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  Speaker 1: has gone through unexpected trials and you will too. I
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  Speaker 1: certainly have, all of my colleagues have, and obviously, because
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  Speaker 1: they are unexpected, there's not something you can you can
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  Speaker 1: specifically prepare for, but at least you can be informed
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  Speaker 1: that this is a probability, a very real probability. And
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  Speaker 1: it's interesting about seminary. This is a microclosm of ministry.
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  Speaker 1: What you go through here, this is all part of
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  Speaker 1: the preparation. It doesn't start three years from now, or
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  Speaker 1: ministry doesn't begin two years from now or whenever you
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  Speaker 1: get your degree. Ministry is going on now, and some
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  Speaker 1: of the unexpected things happening now are a part of
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  Speaker 1: that preparation. I made a note here when I began
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  Speaker 1: my schooling, and kept notes through schooling of things I
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  Speaker 1: encountered while at school while a student, among fellow students
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  Speaker 1: and among faculty members during my four years at Dallas
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  Speaker 1: seminary heartbreaking disappointments, brain tumors, terminal illnesses, financial struggles that
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  Speaker 1: didn't let up, birth defects in children, recurring illnesses, battles
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  Speaker 1: with dark forces, supernatural sources of attack, domestic conflicts, emotional
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  Speaker 1: upevil feelings of loneliness and displacement, times of exhaustion, the
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  Speaker 1: byproduct of over commitment that would occur, exotic diseases, and
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  Speaker 1: even several deaths during my years at the school. It's
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  Speaker 1: as if God was saying, pay attention, this is ministry,
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  Speaker 1: or a side of ministry that will occur, and you
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  Speaker 1: must press on through it. You don't give in or
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  Speaker 1: give up because of it. You press on through it.
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  Speaker 1: One of your own faculty members has a wife that
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  Speaker 1: lives with multiple sclerosis and has for years. I knew
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  Speaker 1: him when he drove a bus from Moody Bible Institude
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  Speaker 1: picked me up and I was a speaker there for
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  Speaker 1: a conference. And she was a picture of health. And
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  Speaker 1: from the time she got that disease until now, it's
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  Speaker 1: been there. It stays there. And he dresses her for
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  Speaker 1: the day, He prepares her meals, he bathes her, he
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  Speaker 1: puts her in bed, he gets her out, prepares her
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  Speaker 1: for the day. This happened to them, and I have
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  Speaker 1: yet to hear the first word of complaint. Remarkable individual.
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  Speaker 1: Joe Bailey wrote a book called A View from the Hearse.
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  Speaker 1: They later changed the name of it to the Last
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  Speaker 1: Thing We Talk About, which I think is the kind
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  Speaker 1: of innocuous title. I like. A View from the Hearse
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  Speaker 1: says it straight. The reason they said it because he
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  Speaker 1: lost three of his own boys, One named Danny, eighteen
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  Speaker 1: days old, died after surgery, another age five, died from leukemia,
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  Speaker 1: another age eighteen, and a sledding accident and a battle
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  Speaker 1: that got complicated by hemophilia, and died there. So he
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  Speaker 1: wrote the book. In the book which you really should read,
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  Speaker 1: Joe Bailey's gone now, but he leaves it in his legacy.
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  Speaker 1: Listen to Joe Bailey's writing, A woman wrote me from
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  Speaker 1: a small town in the east, this is an example
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  Speaker 1: of what can happen unexpectedly. On January twenty five gives
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  Speaker 1: the year in Memorial Hospital, John Riso Riso, red haired, laughing, tall,
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  Speaker 1: eighteen tactor, attractor, driving, cow scratching Shy died after two
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  Speaker 1: and a half years of leukemia. After six weeks of
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  Speaker 1: a raging temperature, experimental drugs, bleeding, and an abscess in
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  Speaker 1: his rectum that became gangrenous, he died soft and gentle. Finally,
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  Speaker 1: after six hours of violent death. Rows listen to that
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  Speaker 1: six hours violent throws, his face so thin, his hair
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  Speaker 1: only a memory, soft red fuzz arms, blue and green
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  Speaker 1: from shots at intravenas feeding. He looked like an old
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  Speaker 1: picture of a saint. After his tortures were over. Why
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  Speaker 1: what a kind God do? What was done to John?
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  Speaker 1: Or such a thing to me? She asks in the letter.
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  Speaker 1: I'm poor. We only have secondhand furniture and clothing. The
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  Speaker 1: things of value were my husband and my son. All
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  Speaker 1: our lives. We've struggled to make ends meet. How can
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  Speaker 1: I live with the memory of the agony he suffered
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  Speaker 1: part of the time he was in a coma, and
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  Speaker 1: he kept saying, Mama, help me, Mama, help me, Mama,
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  Speaker 1: help me. And I couldn't and it's killing me. I
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  Speaker 1: whispered in his ear, John, I love you so much.
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  Speaker 1: All of a sudden his arm came stiffly straight and
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  Speaker 1: then fell across my back, and very quietly he said,
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  Speaker 1: from some vast depth, me too. The great theologian Charles
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  Speaker 1: Hodge said that if anyone thinks he has a simple
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  Speaker 1: solution to the problem of suffering, he should hold an
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  Speaker 1: infant screaming with pain in his arms, and any simple
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  Speaker 1: solution will fly out the window. Careful with simple answers
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  Speaker 1: to complicated situations. Careful when you get your degree and
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  Speaker 1: you have really come to the edge of your advancement
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  Speaker 1: and knowledge. Careful that you don't come across as and
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  Speaker 1: know it all. Keep learning the words. I don't know.
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  Speaker 1: I don't understand. It is a mystery. Things happen to me.
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  Speaker 1: I can explain. I thought about this, and then I
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  Speaker 1: want you to get in his Second Corinthians with me.
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  Speaker 1: I thought about how poets and hymn writers have a
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  Speaker 1: beautiful way of writing about pain. Notice that when through
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  Speaker 1: fiery trials, I pathway shall lie my grace. All sufficient
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  Speaker 1: shall be thy supply. The flames shall not hurt thee.
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  Speaker 1: I only design thy draws, to consume thy gold, to refine.
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  Speaker 1: Try singing that after you've lost your baby, or if
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  Speaker 1: your daughter's raped, or your son is mugged and left
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  Speaker 1: to die, or they find him in an alley with
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  Speaker 1: a needle in his arm. These are great songs, and
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  Speaker 1: we ought to sing them. They are great words much older.
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  Speaker 1: When come ye this consolate where you languish, Come to
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  Speaker 1: the mercy seat fervently, neil here, bring your wounded heart here,
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  Speaker 1: bear your anguish. Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal.
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  Speaker 1: I love that one hundred and ninety year old him.
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  Speaker 1: My brother taught it to me when he visited us
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  Speaker 1: years ago. Great words. Somehow they just don't have the
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  Speaker 1: same ring to him. When the doctor says, I don't
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  Speaker 1: like the way the X ray looks. It looks like
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  Speaker 1: a malignancy, or the growth is larger than it was
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  Speaker 1: last time. You get the picture down. I'm simply preparing
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  Speaker 1: you for what is not academic, and I'm not taking
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  Speaker 1: away from anything related to the academic. Stay as student
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  Speaker 1: of the scriptures, dig into these things as deeply as
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  Speaker 1: you can during your years here. But remember things will
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  Speaker 1: happen to you that will just cut your legs out
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  Speaker 1: from under you. And as Paul writes in this great
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  Speaker 1: fourth chapter of Second Corinthians, verse seven, we have this
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  Speaker 1: treasure in earthen vessels. You've read it, haven't you, the
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  Speaker 1: new living translation. We are like fragile clay jars, that's all.
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  Speaker 1: We are, as fragile as I was when I started seminary.
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  Speaker 1: I'm just as human as when it all began. I'm
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  Speaker 1: just as given to discouragement as I was then. By
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  Speaker 1: the grace of God, I've been able to sail my feet,
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  Speaker 1: but there have been times when I wondered if I
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  Speaker 1: could and if I would, because I'm an earthen vessel.
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  Speaker 1: And he says this so that the surpassing greatness of
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  Speaker 1: the power will be of God and not from ourselves.
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  Speaker 1: He goes on in this same chapter verse eight, We're
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  Speaker 1: afflicted in every way, but not crushed. We're perplexed, not despairing,
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  Speaker 1: persecuted but not forsaken, struck down but not destroyed. One
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  Speaker 1: man renders it. We are so oppressed at every point,
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  Speaker 1: but not hemmed in. We are at our wits end,
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  Speaker 1: but never at our hopes end. We are persecuted by others,
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  Speaker 1: but never abandoned by God. Knocked down, but not knocked out.
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  Speaker 1: Mary Harris renders it. We are hard pressed on every side,
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  Speaker 1: but not completely cornered or without room for movement, never
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  Speaker 1: driven to surrender, bewildered but not at wits end, at
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  Speaker 1: a loss, but never totally at a loss, hounded by
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  Speaker 1: the foe but not left to his mercy, knocked to
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  Speaker 1: the ground, but not permanently grounded, and on and on.
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  Speaker 1: That's life, that's your ministry. That will happen, And in
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  Speaker 1: the midst of all of it, God will use you
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  Speaker 1: in effective ways and in your brokenness, which hopefully you
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  Speaker 1: will not try to hide. And I try to look
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  Speaker 1: like today's athlete. You know, superman, There is no superman,
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  Speaker 1: especially those of us who represent the Savior. He didn't
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  Speaker 1: try to look like a superman. He didn't do sideshow stuff.
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  Speaker 1: He could have caused every group he was in front
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  Speaker 1: of him to go oh wow, but he didn't. His
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  Speaker 1: restraint is as amazing as his power. And what a model.
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  Speaker 1: Let them see the cracks, let them know the pain,
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  Speaker 1: through it all, through it all, I've learned to trust
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  Speaker 1: in Jesus. I've learned to trust in God. Not always.
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  Speaker 1: I would like to say that I've always done that,
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  Speaker 1: but I haven't, and neither will you. Now, Oh gone it.
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  Speaker 1: I don't know how to say these things without discouraging you.
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  Speaker 1: I don't want to. I mean, when I'm true, you're
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  Speaker 1: going to go. Where do I turn it? In? Gosh terrible?
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  Speaker 1: Please get a hear it in a balanced way. Just
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  Speaker 1: keep your equilibrium. Paul writes his second letter to the Corinthians.
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  Speaker 1: It is his most personal letter, and in it he
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  Speaker 1: just unveils his life. This is where we find that
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  Speaker 1: litany of heartbreaking things in chapter eleven. It is here
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  Speaker 1: we just read in chapter four of Being Fragile Jars
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  Speaker 1: of Clay, and it's here at the very beginning, he
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  Speaker 1: admits he came to the end of his own strength.
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  Speaker 1: Look at verse three of chapter one, and now I won't.
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  Speaker 1: I'll try to discipline myself and not jump around. Let
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  Speaker 1: me get to my notes here. Verse three. Blessed be
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  Speaker 1: the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the
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  Speaker 1: Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. This
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  Speaker 1: is Paul's favorite word in the early part of the letter,
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  Speaker 1: it appears ten times paroclitas paro beside to call, to
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  Speaker 1: call alongside, to bring comfort, to bring help. That's why
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  Speaker 1: Jesus when he promised the one who would come, John
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  Speaker 1: records it as the paraclet the one called alongside to
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  Speaker 1: help this one who is the least studied and known
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  Speaker 1: of the Trinity, the spirit of God. How invaluable is
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  Speaker 1: his presence and his power at work in our ministry,
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  Speaker 1: And he comes with a bookload of comfort. He is
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  Speaker 1: our God, is a God of all comfort. And now
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  Speaker 1: Paul seems, I used to say, sort of stubs his
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  Speaker 1: toe on the word. He uses it over and over
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  Speaker 1: four times in this word, in this verse four. Look
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  Speaker 1: who comforts us in all our afflictions, that we may
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  Speaker 1: be able to comfort those who are in any affliction
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  Speaker 1: with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
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  Speaker 1: Again and again and again and again. He's driving it home.
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  Speaker 1: So in the midst of the unexpected, there is this magnificent,
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  Speaker 1: supernatural presence of power that comforts us and gives us
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  Speaker 1: hope beyond the rape and strength beyond the heartbreak. And
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  Speaker 1: whatever may be the disappointment, look at for it's the
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  Speaker 1: first of three reasons we suffer. There are three clauses.
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  Speaker 1: There are three purpose clauses. Notice them. They are introduced
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  Speaker 1: with so that look at them. These are the three reasons,
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  Speaker 1: according to Paul's words in Second Corinthians one we suffer.
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  Speaker 1: Number one, He comforts us in all our afflictions. Sow
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  Speaker 1: that here is the first reason verse nine. Indeed, we
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  Speaker 1: had the sentence of death within ourselves. Sow that that's
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  Speaker 1: the second purpose clause. The third is in verse eleven.
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  Speaker 1: You joining and helping us through your prayers. Sow that
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  Speaker 1: there's the third. Forgive. It sounds pedantic to put it
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  Speaker 1: like that, but when you go through your exposition, you
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  Speaker 1: see those stand out. When you teach this passage, point
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  Speaker 1: that out to people that you're teaching. They love to
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  Speaker 1: see in the text these clues, these verbal reminders. They
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  Speaker 1: can hang their thoughts on. First reason, we suffered verse four,
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  Speaker 1: so that we may be able to comfort those who
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  Speaker 1: are in any affliction. How with the same comfort with
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  Speaker 1: which we ourselves were comforted by God. We had a
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  Speaker 1: baby between our second and third year at the seminary,
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  Speaker 1: a little boy, wonderful, precious child. Not long after that
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  Speaker 1: God allowed Cynthia to get pregnant again and we were
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  Speaker 1: looking forward to another baby. And at five months she miscarried.
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  Speaker 1: Cord got wrapped twisted around the baby's neck and died
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  Speaker 1: in the waiting hallways at Baylor Hospital or water broke
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  Speaker 1: and we both sat there and cried, and God chose
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  Speaker 1: not to have us give birth to a little baby girl.
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  Speaker 1: Let me tell you something. As a result of the
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  Speaker 1: loss of the baby, Cynthia and I were able and
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  Speaker 1: to this day are still able to identify with people
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  Speaker 1: who miscarry. And God has used that miscarriage I don't
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  Speaker 1: know how many times for us to help comfort those
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  Speaker 1: who've lost a baby. That's an example of how we
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  Speaker 1: were comforted and were able therefore with the same comfort,
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  Speaker 1: to be able to comfort others who went through the
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  Speaker 1: same thing. Your situation will be different. It won't be
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  Speaker 1: a miscarriage. It'll be something else, and it'll be that
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  Speaker 1: that God would use to comfort others, and your ministry
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  Speaker 1: will be enhanced by that dimension that you'll be able
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  Speaker 1: to communicate and to model. It won't be theory because
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  Speaker 1: you will have been there. You will understand now read on,
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  Speaker 1: just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance.
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  Speaker 1: So also our comfort is abundant in Christ, abundant through Christ.
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  Speaker 1: If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation.
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  Speaker 1: If we are comforted, it is for your comfort. See
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  Speaker 1: it's not about us, it's about others. When we go
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  Speaker 1: through this, and we finally realized we would go we
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  Speaker 1: went through this so that God would use this in
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  Speaker 1: an effective way in someone's life going through it, because
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  Speaker 1: they're going through a suffering. Our whole well for you
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  Speaker 1: is firmly grounded verse seven. Knowing that as you are
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  Speaker 1: sharers of our suffering, so also your sharers of our comfort.
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  Speaker 1: Now he gets into a second subject. When he slumped
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  Speaker 1: into a deep I would call it a depression. Look
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  Speaker 1: at Paul's admission. He doesn't hide it. We do not
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  Speaker 1: want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which
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  Speaker 1: came to us in Asia. How deep was the affliction, Paul?
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  Speaker 1: So deep we were burdened excessively beyond our strength, so
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  Speaker 1: that we despaired even of life. I called it a
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  Speaker 1: deep dark place. Alfred Plumber writes as he handles this,
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  Speaker 1: we were utterly without a way of escape, utterly at
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  Speaker 1: a loss, quite in despair even of life. Saint Paul
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  Speaker 1: had many moods, and he has no wish to conceal
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  Speaker 1: them from the Corinthians. How profoundly great trouble had depressed him.
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  Speaker 1: He writes that in his commentary on Second Corinthians, we
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  Speaker 1: despaired even of life. Unusual word, rare word. The idea
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  Speaker 1: in the Greek is a total unavailable and availability of
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  Speaker 1: an exit from the oppressive circumstances. I could not escape
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  Speaker 1: the oppressive circumstances. In our words, we come to that place,
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  Speaker 1: we go, that's it, that's it. One of our daughters
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  Speaker 1: had surgery on her eyes. I didn't think our eyes
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  Speaker 1: would ever be straight again. And after surgery, the eye
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  Speaker 1: that was worked on was even worse, and I just
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  Speaker 1: kind of hit bottom. Never forget the experience. We were
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  Speaker 1: in Fullerton, California, and I just knew that after the
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  Speaker 1: surgery that they would be straight. I mean, he's a
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  Speaker 1: pediatric athalmologist. Kind of money we were paying. You gotta
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  Speaker 1: get them straight, you know, even though we said, you
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  Speaker 1: don't have no guarantee because these muscles are fickle, and
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  Speaker 1: I could overcompensate. But remember, when she wakes up, it
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  Speaker 1: may be it may be off, but it could straighten.
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  Speaker 1: Because best I'm able to guess at this, I thought,
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: don't guess, you know, do it right? And he did.
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: But when I first saw her her I was looking
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  Speaker 1: right at the bridge of her nose. I just hit bottom.
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  Speaker 1: And so I went back to my study and hung
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  Speaker 1: old sign on the door, don't disturb. I wanted to
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  Speaker 1: put permanently gone, but I didn't. I just put don't disturb.
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: And a buddy of mine came by, who was an artist,
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  Speaker 1: and he got a big poster board. He worried about
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  Speaker 1: what happened, and he painted a picture that looked like
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  Speaker 1: an old monk, and he wrote on it in beautiful calligraphy,
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  Speaker 1: did we, in our own strength confide our striving would
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  Speaker 1: be losing? We're not the right man on our side,
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  Speaker 1: man of God's own. Choosing just to ask who this
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  Speaker 1: may be? Christ Jesus said, is he Lord Savvey Off?
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  Speaker 1: His name from age to age the same? And he
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: must win the battle? And he propped it up right
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: where I sit at the desk. I looked at it.
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: My first thought was bob Elias was here, and I
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: could tell from that artwork anywhere. A friend of mine
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: took me to a park we had a hamburger, and
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: I told Earl that I was at the very bottom,
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: and he said, you know, it's only been six hours
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  Speaker 1: since the surgery. Doctor said he could straighten up. And
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  Speaker 1: I go, I know that I did it, of course,
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  Speaker 1: in the power of the spirit. When I answered, he
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: was very kind. He didn't rebuke me. He didn't say,
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: don't yell at me. He just said, I understand, I understand.
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  Speaker 1: I thought, you can't understand. You never had a daughter
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  Speaker 1: with an eye that didn't straighten after surgery. But he
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  Speaker 1: had a lot of compassion. So I went back to
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  Speaker 1: the hospital and Cynthia was there. And when Chrisa finally
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: got her eyes open again, it is straightened a little bit.
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  Speaker 1: And today she doesn't even need to wear glasses. Right
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: on worth every dime forgive me. I just had to
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  Speaker 1: throw that in. How God, how good is God? He
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  Speaker 1: makes eyes? Eyes are never fickled to God. But he
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  Speaker 1: may have chosen not to straighten it. Lord Sabaoth is
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  Speaker 1: his name, from age to age, the same he must
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  Speaker 1: win the battle. When would I ever learn that? I
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  Speaker 1: tell you, if you're like me, your strong willed, and
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: if your strong willed, you've got a bigger challenge in
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: front of you, because you'll be forever fighting your will
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  Speaker 1: against God's will. That's why my recent study in Getst
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: Semity was so helpful for me. That's where I think
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: the greater pain of Jesus occurred, not on the cross,
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  Speaker 1: emotional pain, releasing of the will pain. I think the
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  Speaker 1: victory was one in Jesus' life before the cross. The
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  Speaker 1: victory was one for us at the cross, but it
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  Speaker 1: was one for him against semony. Not my will, but
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: yours be done. And he accepted the cup. And when
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: you finally do accept it, it's amazing what happens. Well,
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: Paul got through this and noticed the reason we suffered
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  Speaker 1: verse nine. We had the sentence of death in ourselves,
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  Speaker 1: so that there's our purpose clause we would not trust
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  Speaker 1: in ourselves. Second reason we suffer so that we don't
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  Speaker 1: trust in ourselves. First reason is that we may be
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  Speaker 1: able to comfort others the same comfort we are comforted.
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  Speaker 1: Second reason is that we might not trust in ourselves.
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  Speaker 1: If suffering does nothing else, affliction does nothing else. It
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  Speaker 1: teaches us how weak we are, and that there is
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  Speaker 1: only a strength found in another. And his name is Jesus.
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  Speaker 1: And we learn that when we go through it, and
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  Speaker 1: he verse ten delivers us from so great a peril,
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  Speaker 1: and he will deliver us. He's the one on whom
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  Speaker 1: we have set our hope, and he will yet deliver us.
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: And the third reason verse eleven, you joining and helping
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: us through your prayers, so that here's our third purpose
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: clause thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf.
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: Third reason we suffer that we might learn to give
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: thanks in everything. God graciously in our country gives us
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: a day every year that's named for that very discipline, thanksgiving.
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: It isn't thankskeeping. Thanksgiving we keep enough to ourselves and
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: for ourselves. Learn to just thank him even though you
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: can't unravel the mystery that thanks may be given on
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: our behalf for the favor bestowed. So I'll wrap it
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: up with these three simple words of application. When you
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  Speaker 1: suffer the unexpected and you want to press through it
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: instead focusing on yourself now, think of others later who
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: are going to benefit from what you're going through. It
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: will give you hope. It will give you hope. Here's
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: the second. Rather than fighting, surrender, rather than resisting release,
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: This will increase your faith as you Verse nine learn
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: not to trust in yourself. And the third, even though
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: getting back at somebody or getting even at the moment
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: may make us feel better, try giving thanks. This will
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: bring peace rather than a fist doubled up open handed. Lord,
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  Speaker 1: I'm yours, and I want this to play a role
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: in my ministry, in my life. I want to model
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: this authentically. John Bunyan, when he was set aside in prison,
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: began the writing of his immortal The Pilgrim's Progress includes
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: a scene that has always moved me. It's where Christian,
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: with that heavy pack on his back, falls into this
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: slew of de spawn and he can't get out, and
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: he's wallowing around in it, and he's struggling to survive
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: this place of despond and Pliable says to him, Ah, neighbor,
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: where are you now? And Christian says, truly, I don't know.
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: At this Plible began to be offended and angrily said
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: to his fellow, if this is the happiness you've told
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: me all of all this while of if we have
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: such ill speed at our first setting out, what may
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: we expect betwixt this and our journey's end? May I
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: get out again with my life? You shall possess the
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: brave country alone for me. And with that he gave
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: a desperate struggle or two and got out of the
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: mire on that side of the slough which was next
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: to his own house. So away he went, and Christian
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: saw him no more. Wherefore Christian was left to tumble
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: and the slough of Despond alone. But still he endeavored
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: to struggle to that side of the slough that was
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: still further from his own house, next to the wicked gate,
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: and that which he did, but could not get out
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: because of the burden that was on his back. But
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: I beheld in my dream that a man came to
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: him whose name was Help. This is the spirit of God.
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: His name was Help. And ask him what he did there?
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: And Christian said, I was big go this way by
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: a man called Evangelist, who directed me also to yonder Gate,
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: that I might escape the raft to come. And as
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: I was going thither, I fell in here, and they
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: converse together regarding his plight, and Help reaches down and
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: he says, you reach up, and he does, and he
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: lifts him. There will be occasions in your ministry when
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: you will reach up, because that is the only way
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: you have to look, and the Spirit of God will
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: rescue you beautifully. And you may not even be able
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: to explain it well to others, but it'll keep you
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: strong in the work of God, and you'll stay at it,
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: and you'll look back over it, over life and over
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: your ministry and realize it was those moments when the
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: Spirit of God came to your rescue as only he
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: can and is only he will. It's bower heads. I
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: don't know how any of this prepares any of you
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: for whatever lies ahead, but I know it is meant
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: for all of us. When through fiery trials your pathway
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: will lie His grace. All sufficient will be your supply.
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: When peace like a river attends my way, when sorrow
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: like sea billows roll, whatever my lot, You've taught me
• 42:01
  Speaker 1: to say, it's well with my soul, and so our Father.
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: In the midst of these days of schooling and times
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: of testing, and experiences that are surprising and often totally unexpected,
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: Have your way in the whirlwind and the storm, and
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: remind us that the clouds are but the dust of
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: your feet. Keep us trusting, keep us reaching for the
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: hand of help who is there for us. In the
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: name of Jesus, I pray everyone said. The preceding message,
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: Pressing On through the Unexpected was copyrighted in twenty seventeen
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: in twenty eighteen, and the sound recording was copyrighted in
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: twenty eighteen by Charles R. Swindall, Inc. All rights are
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: strictly prohibited