Scripture referenced 12 passages
The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
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1 Chronicles 16:34 opening verse: 'give thanks to the Lord for he is good'
34 Oh give thanks to Yahweh, for he is good, for his loving kindness endures forever.
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Keep this verse
Romans 11:33-36
read before singing, on the greatness of God's riches, wisdom and knowledge, and all things existing for his glory
33 Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past tracing out!
34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?”
35 “Or who has first given to him, and it will be repaid to him again?”
36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things. To him be the glory for ever! Amen.
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Romans 5:8
read before singing, on God showing his love by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners
8 But God commends his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
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2 Corinthians 4:8-10
main passage: hard pressed but not crushed, perplexed but not in despair, persecuted but not forsaken, struck down but not destroyed
8 We are pressed on every side, yet not crushed; perplexed, yet not to despair;
9 pursued, yet not forsaken; struck down, yet not destroyed;
10 always carrying in the body the putting to death of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.
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2 Corinthians 4:16-18
theme verse: therefore we do not lose heart, outward man perishing but inward man renewed day by day, light affliction working eternal weight of glory
16 Therefore we don’t faint, but though our outward man is decaying, yet our inward man is renewed day by day.
17 For our light affliction, which is for the moment, works for us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory;
18 while we don’t look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
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2 Corinthians 1:8-10
Paul recounting being burdened beyond measure in Asia, despairing even of life, so as to trust God who raises the dead
8 For we don’t desire to have you uninformed, brothers, concerning our affliction which happened to us in Asia, that we were weighed down exceedingly, beyond our power, so much that we despaired even of life.
9 Yes, we ourselves have had the sentence of death within ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead,
10 who delivered us out of so great a death, and does deliver; on whom we have set our hope that he will also still deliver us;
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2 Corinthians 11:23-28
Paul's list of hardships: stripes, prisons, deaths, shipwrecks, perils of all kinds, sleeplessness, hunger, concern for the churches
23 Are they servants of Christ? (I speak as one beside himself) I am more so; in labors more abundantly, in prisons more abundantly, in stripes above measure, in deaths often.
24 Five times from the Jews I received forty stripes minus one.
25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I suffered shipwreck. I have been a night and a day in the deep.
26 I have been in travels often, perils of rivers, perils of robbers, perils from my countrymen, perils from the Gentiles, perils in the city, perils in the wilderness, perils in the sea, perils among false brothers;
27 in labor and travail, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, and in cold and nakedness.
28 Besides those things that are outside, there is that which presses on me daily: anxiety for all the assemblies.
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Proverbs 3:5
cited in connection with being perplexed, trust in the Lord and lean not on your own understanding
5 Trust in Yahweh with all your heart, and don’t lean on your own understanding.
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Psalm 116:10
quoted by Paul: 'I believed and therefore I spoke', used to explain why believers must speak what they believe
10 I believed, therefore I said, “I was greatly afflicted.”
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Isaiah 64:4
quoted via 1 Corinthians 2:9, eye has not seen nor ear heard the things God has prepared for those who love him
4 For from of old men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, nor has the eye seen a God besides you, who works for him who waits for him.
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1 Corinthians 2:9
Paul quoting Isaiah on what God has prepared for those who love him, used to point toward heaven
9 But as it is written, “Things which an eye didn’t see, and an ear didn’t hear, which didn’t enter into the heart of man, these God has prepared for those who love him.”
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1 Corinthians 15:57-58
closing benediction: thanks be to God who gives victory through Christ, be steadfast, your labor is not in vain
57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the Lord’s work, because you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
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Recap
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
This message came from 2 Corinthians 4:8-18, with Pastor Blake working back over verses 8-10 in more depth before building toward the chapter's summit in verse 16. The governing idea was simple: because God is renewing us inwardly every day, we do not have to lose heart, no matter what is pressing in from every side. He used grammar, Doris Platts's death, Paul's own list of hardships, and a long look at the prosperity gospel's failure to make that case.
What was said
Pastor Blake opened by explaining his "wet edge" method. He had covered verses 8-10 the week before, but enough people came back saying those verses were exactly where they were living that he wanted to go deeper before moving on. He said the whole passage is like climbing to a peak, and verse 16, "therefore, we do not lose heart," is that peak, with everything before it building up and everything after it explaining why the view from there is true.
He worked through the Greek behind each phrase in verses 8-9, noting that "hard pressed" carries the image of compression from every side, the same word used when the crowd was thronging Jesus. Both "hard pressed" and "not crushed" are passive verbs, meaning this pressure is being done to us, not by us. Paul's point is that even though the force is real, it does not get to finish the job.
"Perplexed" got the most attention. He explained that the Greek there is middle voice, meaning it reflects back on the subject. Paul may be saying we ourselves are perplexed, acknowledging honestly that even he could not always see the way out, or he may be saying we are perplexing ourselves, going around and around because we are leaning on our own understanding instead of trusting God. Pastor Blake held both readings and connected the second one directly to Proverbs 3:5. The "not in despair" that follows is passive again, he said, and he read it as a divine passive: we are not being driven to despair, because God will always leave a way through, even if that way is death.
"Persecuted" he unpacked as a hunting term, to zealously chase down with all haste and earnest desire to overtake. He acknowledged that people in the room may not feel it the way Christians in Syria or Central Asia do, but said the pursuit is real. Against that he set "not forsaken," which he called a clear divine passive. When Jesus cried out on the cross asking why God had forsaken Him, God actually did forsake Him so that He would never have to forsake those who believe. "Struck down but not destroyed" he translated loosely as being body-slammed but not tapping out, noting the term is drawn from wrestling.
He then read Paul's full list from 2 Corinthians 11:23-28, the beatings, the stonings, the three shipwrecks, the night and a day treading water, the cold, the hunger, the sleeplessness, the daily pressure of concern for all the churches. He read that whole list as what Paul calls a "light and momentary affliction," and said the only way Paul can describe it that way is because he is putting it on a scale against an eternal weight of glory that simply outweighs all of it with no contest.
He came back hard against the prosperity gospel, calling it hogwash more than once, and said Paul's whole argument in these verses flies directly in the face of it. The outward person perishes. Paul knew that. Doris Platts knew it too, he said, finishing her book in the last weeks of her life while her body was failing, not in despair but with more and more confidence in God as the end came closer. That, he said, is what "the inward man being renewed day by day" actually looks like.
He closed by leaning on the final verses of the chapter. The things that are seen are temporary; the things not seen are eternal. He quoted Isaiah 64:4 through Paul's reference in 1 Corinthians, that eye has not seen nor ear heard the things God has prepared for those who love Him, and said Christians should not be embarrassed to sing about heaven or look forward to it. That future hope is not escapism. For Paul it was the very reason he kept going, kept speaking, and refused to lose heart.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
- Pastor Blake described Doris Platts as someone whose outward person was visibly diminishing in her final weeks, yet she was being renewed inwardly day by day right up to the end. Have you seen that kind of inward renewal in someone you know, and what did it look like from the outside?
- Pastor Blake pointed out that the word 'perplexed' in verse 8 carries the sense of having no way out that you can recognize, and that the middle voice suggests we are often perplexing ourselves by leaning on our own understanding rather than trusting God. When have you caught yourself doing that, and what helped you stop?
and 3 more questions in the guide
Read the full transcript 14,899 words
0:00
Church family. It's good to see y'all. What do you say we stand up, we begin praising God? I got a verse I wanna share with you. It's first, Chronicles.
0:08
It's saying this, give thanks to the Lord for he is good.
0:13
Can you
0:13
finish it?
0:14
Exactly.
0:18
Exactly. And should we just acknowledge God? Let let's warm up to him through his song. Okay? Alright.
0:32
Give thanks to the Lord.
0:35
Give thanks to the Lord.
3:10
Thank you, God, for this morning. We're here, and we're here to meet with you as we draw near to you, God, but you draw near to us. Amen. You may have a seat.
3:25
Is this It's working. This thing working. Is it working? Yes. Alright.
3:36
Good. So, a few welcoming announcements. We have the First B Women's Study is happening on Wednesdays. That's the Women's Wednesday Worship. It started already.
3:47
It's going strong. This will be the third week, 10:00 in the morning. Even if you miss the other two, you're still welcome. So, 10:00 on Wednesdays is that. Old Bills Fun Run.
3:56
How many of y'all participated some way with that yesterday? Alright, good. So, you know what it is. That's fantastic. It's still it's still a possibility.
4:05
If you would like to give to First Baptist Local Benevolence Fund, you can give to the Community Foundation of Jackson Hole through Old Bills and it'll amplify your gift to the local benevolence fund here. If you wanna do that, we know how there are these little things that y'all saw a million of yesterday. There are some of these. If you want one, let me know and we'll we'll do that. Old Bills, still good.
4:28
I think that's up through like Wednesday or Thursday of this week. So, if you want to do it, it needs to happen. Awana is starting. When? Tomorrow.
4:37
Tomorrow, exactly. September 14. Do you have anything you want to say in specific, Martin?
4:46
I want is a great program. Amen. Amen. Join us if
4:50
you are a kid and
4:51
come join us if you want to
4:52
listen and support your kid. Very good. Thank you. We are still looking for listeners primarily. We have teachers and we have people to help out for the games, everything else but listeners, we're, if we run short on anything, it's that.
5:04
So, feel free. That is 06:00 tomorrow evening and Monday nights, A new improved time for Monday nights. If you can read that font, it's at 06:00 instead of 06:15. We're trying to coincide better with Awana so that we end closer to the same time. So Monday nights at first B, we're gonna do 06:00 instead of 06:15.
5:26
Carl is starting what?
5:28
Second John.
5:29
Second John. Alright. Right through the epistles of John. Solid Rock Student Ministry. Thank you, mister tech guy.
5:36
There we go. That should be better for you. So, Solid Rock Ministries, it's right now, we have got everything started. So, Thursday nights at 06:30 is the middle school youth group right down there in the Fellowship Hall. So, middle school six through eighth grade.
5:51
Come join us for that. That is a good time and breakfast has started as well. We kicked off on Friday with breakfast for the high schoolers. There's no school this Friday. So, there's no breakfast this Friday but we're right back on for the following Friday but everything is in full swing and we also have some youth volunteers who have stepped up and are doing a Sunday study which is great.
6:12
We have both middle school and high school guys and girls downstairs and they are dismissed when the kids go down for children's church. So, high school, middle school on that wing of the church downstairs and there's big signs that kind of direct you. So, I'm excited all that is happening and that is the Solid Rock stuff that's happening.
6:29
Thank you.
6:32
Solid Rock. Peak Children's Church starts today. So, that is immediately after the the offering, after we get through the song service and do the offering, then, the kids are released to go down to children's church and other than that, check your bulletin. I think I have one more that is written down here. There's a grieving class that starts this Thursday.
6:53
Anne, would you stand for just a second? Anne is going to be facilitating a class on grieving starts this Thursday which is after precepts ministry that starts at nine. This will start at twelve to one. Very good. And I think that that's everything.
7:12
One more thing. Directory. We'll be passing around at some point this morning. You may see a folder of the first B directory that'll come past your seat. And if all the information is right, just check all of this is right.
7:24
If you want us to change anything, please change it. If you want to change the picture next week and the week after, Tanya will be here to take fresh pictures. So, that's it. Would you stand up and greet one another and we'll all bring you back together with a song.
7:49
Alright. Let's sing the wondrous love of God.
8:25
When I was sinking, when I was sinking down, sinking down, sinking down. When I was sinking down, sinking down. Ground for my soul. Amen.
9:02
And to God into the lamb. And when from death, we're free.
9:41
When from death, I'm free. I'll sing on. I'll say no. And when from death, I'm free. I'll say
10:27
Amen. Hey, let me share this with you. It's from Romans, and it says, how great are God's riches and wisdom and knowledge. Think about that for a minute. How great they are and how impossible it is for us to understand his decisions in his ways.
10:44
We don't always get it. Right? For who can know the Lord's thoughts? Who knows enough to give him advice? In other words, who are we, really, compared to this great almighty God?
10:59
And who has given him so much that he needs to pay it back? He doesn't owe us anything. Right? For everything comes from him. Here it is.
11:08
It's it's directing our focus toward God. Everything comes from him and exists by his power, and it is intended for his glory. All things, even good and bad things intended for God's glory. Let's sing a bit of behold our God.
11:39
Who is hell?
12:47
Who's giving counsel? And who's felt the nails?
14:43
Compare. Come let us adore him, and you reign forever. You will reign forever. You will reign forever. Let's sing
15:04
it out.
15:04
You reign. You will reign forever.
15:58
How about Romans five eight? But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. While we're still in sin. Not because we did anything about our sin but because he did. And that is what we're grateful for, the grace, the mercy of Jesus.
16:27
Alright. Great is your faithful. So remember, so remember your people. Remember your children. Remember your promise, oh God.
17:13
And your grace is enough. Your grace is enough. Your grace is enough. Your grace is enough for me. One more time, your grace.
18:52
God, we pause for a moment just to, consider the grace that you've given on, given to us, this free gift of salvation. We didn't pay for it. We don't earn it. We just receive it. We put our trust in you, and our our our our the penalty for our sin has been paid in full.
19:11
And, God, I'm praying that that message would sink in. I I I I know that we often feel we've gotta earn, gotta earn, gotta earn, and yet we can't. That's that's not how the gospel works. You've paid our debt in full. You've given us life.
19:25
You've given us freedom. And and my prayer is that we'd live in it, that we would just simply live in it, walk in it, rest in it, bathe in it, because you are very, very good. You're a good father, and we wanna give you thanks. And, God, worship of giving is is one way to do so. And I think of it as just living life with an open hand to you.
19:50
And not closing it up, not having a hard heart, but having a soft, moldable heart that's extended to you so you can work with it. God, would you use not only the the the monetary gifts, but God, would you use the spiritual gifts that you've imparted to us too so that so that we you can you can use us to draw people close to you and draw them into you so that they might know the good news of the gospel. And we pray this in the strong name of Christ. Amen. You you can have a seat, and we'll sing here during the worship of of giving.
20:29
And the words are on the screen if if you'd like to sing along. Let's sing it all together. You're a
23:25
good, good father. You're a good, good father.
23:48
Amen. So, the children are dismissed right now to head downstairs to go to children's church, Peak Children's Church starting back up today. I did forget one more announcement. I thought of it when I was when y'all were shaking hands that the women's retreat is happening. Columbus Day weekend and there's a sign up going to be in the back and there's a sign up for that to give you all the details that you need but I am working.
24:16
We're working our way through second Corinthians. We're in second Corinthians four right now and last week, I covered up to verse 10 if you remember but I'm retreating a bit to verse eight. I have found that in in second Corinthians context is really really important. It is all over the Bible but context is so important in this that I'm doing like a painter. You ever been a painter?
24:37
I ever met a painter that said, you have to keep a wet edge. Keep the edge wet. You spread it out and you keep the edge wet so that you don't have dry creases and crinkles and and mismatches and all that. You just have to keep a wet edge. So we're gonna go back from time to time and catch what we did last last week.
24:52
This one, I'll spend a little bit more time of all the things that we've hit lately. The thing that more of y'all said that connected for some reason was verses eight and nine of this passage. So, I want to cover that in a little bit more depth. So, put the plow down a little bit deeper But the whole passage today is gonna be kinda governed by this one verse, I think. To me, it seems like this is the pinnacle.
25:16
It's, you know, climbing the mountain till you get to this, and then there's denouement afterwards where it's pointing back to this peak. Therefore, we do not lose heart. How many of y'all want that? You don't want to lose heart. We, nobody wants to lose heart.
25:32
We wanna carry on. We wanna be good and faithful servants and we want to continue going forward. So, therefore, we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. So, how many of us want to be renewed day by day?
25:48
We we all do. It's something that we all are looking for is that sense of renewal even in spite of the circumstances because sometimes circumstances can look pretty bleak when you're going through hard times especially. Therefore, we do not lose heart even though our outward man is perishing, granted, conceded, we are all getting older. Our inner man is being renewed day by day. Did a funeral this week for Doris Platts, and she knew she was dying, and she knew it for the last three weeks of her life.
26:19
She just was here trying to finish writing a book. Some of you probably read the article they wrote about it in the paper and she finished that book. She was renewed day by day spiritually and to get done what she needed to get done but her outward person was sinking and literally so. You could see it over the last few weeks. But she did not lose heart.
26:37
She went into glory. Absolutely in bliss. Physically a mess. But let's go back to this. And I'm to read.
26:46
It's going to alternate between the New King James Version, which is a good translation. But I'm gonna go back and forth between that translation and the one that I used last week that grabs hold of all of the the nuances of the grammar, the participles, especially the present tense participles, the active things going on. So I wanna read it all at once right here. Eight to 10 is this. We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed.
27:15
We're perplexed but not in despair, persecuted but not forsaken, struck down but not destroyed, always carrying about in the body, the dying of the Lord Jesus that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body and last week, when we got through with that, we did the Lord's supper, communion. And I pointed out that in verse 10, we've got the body of us is what it says and then down here, it says, in this, our body and I pointed out that I think that that's talking about the corporate church. Now, the next thing we go to is definitely talking about mortal flesh because he says, flatly, it's about mortal flesh. It's about that but this, I really think it's corporate and the we up here is definitely Paul and his team of ministers but he is calling out for them to join him in this ministry and I'm calling out the same for you. I'm joined, I've joined Paul and I'm calling out the same for y'all.
28:16
To be doing what it is in your life, whatever it is that God's called you to but to be doing it with this kind of mindset. Now, we are being hard pressed on every side. I put the being in there because this is a passive participle. This is not something that we are doing to ourselves. This is something that is being done to us.
28:35
And this is being done on every side or in every way or in everything. It could be any of those but on every side, the hard pressed there is about compression. Actually, the same word is used when Jesus is walking through the multitudes and it says and they were thronging him. They were coming in from all sides and they were pressing in on him. That's the the kind of imagery but also being hard pressed is being compressed under a great deal of pressure and it seems from every side.
29:09
Later on in the sermon, I'll get to Paul's list from second Corinthians eleven twenty three through 28. If you can't stand it, you can flip there. Second Corinthians eleven twenty three through 28. It'll show you what he's talking about about being hard pressed on every side, everywhere he goes. But Paul says, yet or but, we are not being crushed.
29:30
Recognizing that there is pressure abounded from all sides, we are still not being crushed. Now, this this is pointing towards God's help. Paul has recognized it in my verse that I said, yet, therefore, we do not lose heart because our inward man is being renewed every day, right? He knows that and he knows that it's going to be tough but we're not being crushed. He's recognizing that.
29:58
We're perplexed, the New King James Version says. Perplexed, question mark. Sorry. Perplexed to be without resources, to be in straights, to be left wanting, to be embarrassed, to be in doubt, not to know which way to turn. Actually, more literally, it means to have no way out that you can recognize, to not be able to see the way out of a problem.
30:25
So that's to be perplexed. But there's something interesting about this one. I'm gonna bring it up. Y'all are sitting there. This is grammar nerd.
30:33
The middle voice. Does anybody know what that means? Anybody in here know what the middle voice means? Good. Great.
30:39
I'll explain it. So middle voice, the we are perplexed in the New King James does not reflect the middle voice. We, ourselves, are perplexed. There's one way to look at that. That could be what Paul is saying.
30:53
He's saying, you're looking to me. Those of you who do look to me in authority, I want you to recognize that, listen, I still get perplexed. We ourselves are perplexed. We ourselves are perplexed. That's one way of looking at the middle voice.
31:07
It's a reflexive verb. We don't do that very often in English. It's not something we do a lot of without adding pronouns and proverb pronouns to it. So we ourselves are perplexed is one way to look at it. Aren't we ourselves at times are not seeing the way out?
31:24
Remember Paul's journeys in Acts when it says and he was hindered. He was hindered from doing ministry there and he didn't know which way to go but it was just at that point that God would always show him which way to go. So, we ourselves are perplexed. That's one way of looking at it. The other way of looking at it is this: We are perplexing ourselves.
31:45
We are exhausting ourselves with the possibilities, and we're going round and round and round about which way would be the best, and we have the paralysis of analysis. We get stuck because we are perplexing ourselves. We feel like there is no way out that's a good way, and so we just keep going round and round and round. I think that that is what he's kind of pointing to here. It's talking about doubt and doubting instead of trusting.
32:11
It's talking about doubting. We are perplexing ourselves and it reminded me of Proverbs three five. Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding. The perplexing ourselves, I think, is when we begin to lean on our understanding and we go, oh my goodness, this is a desperate situation. This is really, really, really bad and really hard.
32:33
And then we cannot seem to get out of it because we're trusting in our ability to negotiate the situation. We're perplexing ourselves, but not in despair, the New King James says. Again, it's passive though, but not being driven to despair. Not being driven to despair or to utter despair and despair, there is I I thought of this this morning. Forgive me.
33:03
Anybody any of y'all watch Heehaw? Yes. Okay. Now, nobody knows what the middle voice is but everybody watches Hee Haw. So, Hee Haw had this one segment where all these guys are laying on the porch and then one of them would say, gloom, despair, and agony on me.
33:21
Y'all know it? Deep, dark depression, excessive misery. If it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all. Gloom, despair, agony on me. Okay, that's despair.
33:34
It's completely out. Alright, you've exhausted all your resources and you just sit around and moan about it. I'm not being driven to utter despair. What's interesting is Paul uses this word before this. He uses it in second Corinthians.
33:50
Y'all heard it a few weeks ago. He says it in first Corinthians eight through 10. He says, to the Corinthians, same people he's writing to, just a couple chapters earlier, he says, we don't want you to be ignorant brethren of the trouble or our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened beyond measure, above our strength, so that we despaired of even life. So he says, he's been there. He's been there.
34:18
Yes, we had the sentence of death hanging over us or in ourselves so that we should not trust in ourselves but in God and I think that that's what he's pointing to. He said, even the hard stuff that he has been through at this point where he felt like he had despaired and would utterly die. So, that was so that we should not trust in ourselves but in God. God who raises the dead. The same power that rose Jesus from the dead is the power that's at work in you.
34:46
Who delivered us from such a great death and he does deliver us. Paul has confidence because he's been through hard times and God has pulled him through those hard times. He's got a direct relationship with Jesus. He's got a direct relationship with God the father through Jesus and he has extreme confidence in Christ to bring him through and deliver him and so he does not despair. After you've been through a hard time and you know what you can take, it's easier to go through it the next hard time, is it not?
35:16
After you know someone else has been through a hard time, it's easier to go through that hard time with them. Right? Do we agree? Alright. Not in despair, not utterly ruined, not having a way out.
35:35
Persecuted, being continually. Again, it's a continuous action verb. Being persecuted. This is something that's an outside thing too. Being persecuted.
35:50
Now, we do have self that we have to deal with, the old man, but we also have the world and the enemy to deal with. And those are the ones that are continually persecuting, being persecuted. What does persecuted mean? The sense of it, it's a hunting term actually. Properly, it is to aggressively chase like a hunter pursues his quarry apprise.
36:16
Now I know we have hunters in here because anytime we have meetings this time of year, everybody's like, no, can't do it then. It's something that they get really passionate about. To zealously hunt down with all haste, can't wait and will pursue. Earnestly desire to overtake and or apprehend, that's to persecute. We see persecution these days in the Muslim world.
36:41
We see it on the news. We don't see the half of what's really going on. But it is a continual thing that has been happening since the first century to be persecuted, zealously hunted down. But not forsaken. The New King James says, but not being forsaken, but not being forsaken.
37:05
When Jesus cried out on the cross, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? You know that God actually did forsake Jesus. He actually did forsake Jesus so that he would not have to forsake those who believe in Jesus. That's part of the sacrifice that Christ made. Not being forsaken.
37:30
Low, I'm with you always. I will never leave you nor forsake you. It's a promise of God that for those who believe, he will not forsake. They will not come to utter ruin or despair. Struck down.
37:47
Strut down especially after the jars of clay reference up above and seven being cast down is a good translation too. Struck down is a good translation but being cast down, I heard, I read several different commentaries this week where the guy said, when the potter is making a pot and he ruins the pot, he cast it down, breaks it into a lot of pieces, and uses the grog later on. Being cast down is one way to look at it But another way to look at it, and this is actually a wrestling term, is to be body slammed, not being being body slammed by self, the world, the devil, being body slammed like this. Okay? Being body slammed.
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But not destroyed. Struck down but not destroyed. But not being utterly destroyed. This is not having a way out. Now, this points toward heaven for sure because we know that there are martyrs who die for their faith.
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And we know that we are subject to that death, physical death here. But the not being utterly destroyed is not turning away. Not pulling back from the hope that you have in Christ. Not being utterly destroyed. Always caring about in the body, the body of Christ, the dying of the Lord Jesus that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.
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Therefore, we do not lose heart because it's difficult. Paul points that out. He points out that it's difficult and the the the more we look at those words, the more difficult it looks like that it is but he says, in verse 16, we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For we who live or we who are living, that's continuous action too.
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We who are living still, those of us who claim Christ and are ministering, those of us who claim Christ and are living are always being delivered to death for Jesus' sake. Like I said, that's happening in the Muslim world right now. It happened to Stephen before Paul was Paul when Paul was still Saul. He's holding the coats and he's watching Stephen's martyrdom. We who are living are always being delivered to death for Jesus's sake.
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That the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. Paul was not afraid of anything that human beings could throw at him because he knew that he had eternal an eternal place, home. And he knew that it was worth it for others that he continue with that message no matter what he ran into. So then death is working in us, those of us who are living, who are facing it every day. So, then, death is working in us but it's life in you.
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The life that we found in Jesus is worth it to go to death in this life and he said, the fact that we're standing up to this is life for you. That's how you came to know. Now, this is the guy who introduced them to the gospel. Life is working in you and since we have the same spirit of faith, me and you, since we have the same spirit of faith according to what is written, I believe and therefore, I spoke. We also believe and therefore, we speak.
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He's quoting right there from Psalm one sixteen and he, the Psalm ist is saying, listen, I believe it and I can't hold on to it. I have to speak it forth. I have to say what it is that God has done and so that's what he's saying right here. I believed and therefore, I spoke. He could not remain silent.
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Knowing that he who raised up the Lord Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus. And will present us with you. So, again, Paul is saying to these Corinthians that he knows that they're believers and he's trying to encourage them in their faith to come through the hard times. It's not health and wealth, people. It's not health and wealth gospel.
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On this side, absolutely not. Knowing that he who raised up the Lord Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus. He has that confidence that in the resurrection and he will present us with you. All of us will be there together. When the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there.
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For all things are for your sakes that grace having spread through the many may cause Thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God. The whole whole book, the whole life, everything. For Paul is about the glory of God, the surpassing glory of God. All of these things that we've endured are for your sakes that grace having spread through the many, he actually asked for prayer in chapter one that the many would get a chance to hear this message. For all things for are for your sakes that grace having spread through the many may cause Thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God.
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He wants for more people to recognize how good God is and how worth it the struggle is. And then our theme verse here, therefore, we do not lose heart. Heaven is worth it all. Therefore, we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, I'll give you that.
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Yet, the inward man is being renewed day by day. You have a sense that Paul was joyful? I do. You have a sense that he was joyful everywhere that he went? Honestly, the deep, dark depression, excessive misery folks don't have a lot of folks hanging around.
43:30
I think that Paul had an a joy that flowed out of him that was very very attractive. For our light affliction, Paul calls it, which is but for a moment. Your life is but a vapor, James says. Our light affliction is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. So, he puts it in the balance and he says, this momentary, light affliction, he diminishes his hardships and he puts it in the balance against the eternal weight of glory and there's no doubt in his mind and that's why he keeps on going and keeps on doing what it is that he does.
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This is from second Corinthians 11 right here. This is the passage I refer to it all the time, the list. I call it the list. Now, what's interesting about this and when we get to it, we'll go over it more thoroughly. Paul doesn't normally go into stuff like this but all of the other super apostles and false apostles have been boasting like crazy and Paul says, right now, I'm speaking as a fool.
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He says it flatly. I'm speaking out as a fool. I'm joining a fool in this folly and I recognize it but I'm just going to give you my list. He tells the truth and he's not bragging. It's not something he would normally do but he's he's saying, listen, I'm become all things to all people and y'all are fools.
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I'm going to act out as a fool right here and give you my list. This is the truth. In stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths more often, or in in the in death more often. From the Jews, I've received five times 40 stripes minus one because it was illegal right to to do 40. 40 stripes minus one.
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Three times, I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked. A night and a day, I've been in the deep. Wait a second. A night and a day, he just swam in the deep, treading water.
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That's hard times. In journeys often, anybody who's ever traveled sees that as a hardship. In perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among the false brethren. In weariness and in toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and in thirst, in fastings often, in cold, and in nakedness. Besides the other things, what comes upon me daily is my deep concern for all the churches.
46:04
Now, do you get hard pressed on every side? He's hard pressed on every side, right? No matter where he goes, no matter what he does, he's got this pressure that's on him. Do you ever feel that? I feel that.
46:15
You know, but also feel that eternal glory that way and also feel that joy that's unspeakable What's interesting about this verse too though is he says that this light affliction which is but for a moment is what it is working for us, this eternal glory. He's saying it's a part of it. The health and wealth gospel is hogwash. How many times have I said that up here? We know that all things work together for good.
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Romans eight twenty eight, right? We know that they all work together for good but they're not all good. Some of it is affliction but Paul calls it momentary and light. So that therefore, points back to everything he said before it verses eight through 15 in our case and the four in verse seventeen and eighteen is telling what it why it is that we should not lose heart and why it is that we should recognize that God is able to renew us day by day even though our physical bodies do diminish. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.
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While we do not look at the things which are seen but at the things which are are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary but the things which are not seen are eternal. Isaiah sixty four four and first Corinthians two nine says, but as it is written, eye has not seen nor ear heard nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love him. In our day, a lot of times, people shy away from putting heaven out there. So, no, the the life is for now.
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It is for now. The abundant life starts now. Yes. I agree with that. But don't be ashamed of having a home in heaven for sure.
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Don't be ashamed to sing those old hymns about when the role is called up yonder, I'll be there. I've put my trust there and I trust him that he's going to do what he says he's going to do. I don't understand it all. Even in Revelation when John's describing it, he has to use the word like and it was like this because I can't even describe it. It was beyond all of that.
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Eye has not seen nor ear heard nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love him and therefore, we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing yet, the inward man is being renewed day by day. Do you feel like those things bolster one another? That though you're struck down, you're not destroyed, that though you're persecuted, you're not to go back to it. I also was going to challenge you this week a couple of different things.
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One of em is to memorize this probably in an established version, not mine. New King James, something. Whatever your favorite version is of the Bible, look at this. Commit it to memory, think about it because this is what that therefore is there for. Even though you're hard pressed on every side, you do not have to be crushed.
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Look to God. Look to God. Even though you are perplexed, trust not in your own understanding. Look to God. Actually, he will direct your steps.
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Not in despair, persecuted but not forsaken, struck down but not destroyed. That was one of them. Commit that to memory, if y'all would. I'm going to. I just proved that I don't know it a minute ago.
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Commit that to memory. That one's one that that it needs to go on the notes page on the phone, you know? And then the other thing is, I am getting so much out of this second Corinthians more than I ever expected that I would. And I'm gonna ask y'all if you would. Would you read it?
50:26
Would you just read it this week? Would you read second Corinthians all the way through? And see if we can just keep this thing going and growing and building because I think there's a lot more juice in this orange than we've squeezed out of it before. That's the way I feel about it. I'm going invite Carl and the band back up and we'll sing Let's not lose heart.
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Our hope is in Christ. That's good. Very good. Would you stand with us as we do sing?
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Alright, I meet with you.
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I'll meet with you and my soul sings out as your word flows down far away. I sing to you and my heart cries holy. Hallelujah, father, you're worthy. My hope is in you. I will be in you, Lord,
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Amen. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? In Jesus name, y'all can go. Bye.
54:14
Back there. So, it feels a little different in here. It feels kinda porous. Yeah, it's kinda loud back there too but if we start singing, it'll probably bring everybody in. That's usually what works in both services.
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Would you stand with me? I'm going invite Scott and Bob to come up and we're going to sing There's Power in the Blood. In fact, we're going to sing There's Power in the Blood and connect it right into Are You Washed in the Blood?
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You think they caught that? That was good.
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One more time. Would you be free from your burden of sin?
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There's power in the blood. Power in the blood. Would you be free from your passion and pride there's power in the blood power in the blood come to your cleansing to Calvary's side There's wonderful power in the blood. Here we go. There is power, power, wonder working power in the blood of the lamb.
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There is power, power, wonder working power in the precious blood of the lamb. Would you be whiter, much whiter than snow? There's power in the blood, power in the blood. Sins and the bloods, and there's life giving flow. There's power in the blood.
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There is power wonder working power in the blood of the lamb there is power wonder working power in the precious blood of the lamb would you do service for Jesus your king there's power in the blood power in the blood would you live daily his praises to sing there's wonderful power in the blood there is power wonder working power in the blood of the lamb there is power wonder working power in the precious blood of the lamb right into Are your garments spotless? Are they white as snow? Are you washed in the blood of the lamb? This is a new song now. Are you walking daily by the savior's side?
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Are you washed in the blood of the lamb? Do you rest each moment in the crucified? Are you washed in the blood of the lamb? Are you washed? Are you washed in the blood?
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In the soul cleansing blood of the lamb. Are your garments spotless? Are they white as snow? Are you washed in the blood of the lamb? When the bridegroom cometh, when will robes be white?
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Are you washed in the blood of the lamb? Where your soul be ready for the mansion's bright I'll be washed in the blood of the lamb are you washed in the blood in the soul cleansing blood of the lamb are your garments spotless are they white as snow are you washed in the blood of the lamb lay aside the garments that are stained with sin and be washed in the blood of the lamb there's a fountain flowing for the soul unclean oh be washed in the blood of the lamb. Here we go. Are you washed in the blood in the soul cleansing blood of the lamb are your garments spotless are you white as snow are you washed in the blood of the lamb Amen.
59:37
Y'all can have a seat. It sounds more like you wanna jump though. There are a couple of announcements. Tanya has one and she's walking to the front with a microphone.
59:49
Yeah, because Blake handed it to me. Okay. So, I could stay up here the whole time. Alright. Right?
59:54
Okay. I don't think it's working though.
59:55
It is. It is.
59:57
Okay. So this is everybody know about the women's fall retreat. Last year was the first year. It was so much fun, and we had a lot of great speakers, and we're gonna have a lot of great speakers this year. We're going to have a lot of great musicians this year, and just people that we all know, and that makes it even more fun.
1:00:16
So it's at it's at Heart six, October ninth through eleventh. We have sometimes we have a sign up sheet out there right now, but because we don't, I'm gonna stand back there and direct you if you would like to. If you would like to ask, Anne Stalker is a big part of this. So she's she was first service. She's not here today.
1:00:36
If you have any questions, Diane Geek and me a few other people, but we invite you. It's fun. It's not intimidating. It's not too many women in one place making you crazy. It's it's It's just not a ball fest.
1:00:50
No. It's fun. It's fun. That's right. And so I I get nervous about that kind of thing and he made me go and I had a great time.
1:00:58
So so there there it is. Confession and
1:01:03
Ringing endorsement. Right.
1:01:04
Yes. Alright.
1:01:05
Are you glad you went? Yes.
1:01:07
Okay. Good. Yes.
1:01:08
Then it's alright that I made you go.
1:01:10
No. No. No. I didn't.
1:01:14
First B Women's Study is happening. Women are very active in the fall around here. So, women's first B Women's Study Wednesday worship at ten through twelve. Deborah Buckingham and Becca Block are swapping back and forth teaching but there's small group time afterwards and it's a good time on Wednesdays. They're studying Romans together for the whole of autumn.
1:01:35
Old Bills Fun Run, if you if you how many of y'all were involved in some way with Old Bills recently? Yeah. Yesterday, it took up a lot on the square. What first b uses or what old bills does for first b. We're one of their registered 501C3 blah blah blah.
1:01:52
But what we do with it, if you donate through Old Bills to First B, it goes to our local benevolence fund so that we're able to help people out who are in desperate straits and hard times, and we're able to just say yes when they have a need. So that's what we use old bills money for. If you wanna do that, there's still a few days, but I think it's until the eighteenth. Thank you, Dave. Up through the eighteenth, anything that you give will be amplified.
1:02:19
So if you give year, people gave, I think, $7,500, but by the time it went through, Community Foundation was matched by the co challengers, it got to us as almost $13,000. So it can amplify your giving. If you wanna do it through the Community Foundation of Jackson Hole, that's a great way to help out people in need. Awana, because kids matter to God. This is a great program and we're starting at when?
1:02:43
Night. Good. I was glad to hear that coming back at me. Tomorrow night, September 14, we will start get em here around 05:45 to six. We usually start at 06:00 and that is a time of scripture memorization and games and just a fun time for kids and we have tons of volunteers but if you would like to be involved and you're not a teacher and you're not somebody working with the games, it would be very helpful for us to have more volunteers who would listen to the students.
1:03:11
So listen to the to the kids, recite their Bible verses. What could be better? It's it's a short time commitment to do that, but to come in and just listen to them would be great. If you wanna do that, Martin Murphy is the guy in charge. He's the best guy to talk to, but you can talk to me since I don't see Martin in here right now.
1:03:29
Because of Awana starting at 05:40 fivesix, we are moving the time on Monday nights at first B to be 06:00 instead of 06:15. So we're gonna try to start the meal fifteen minutes earlier so that our time frame matches up better with Awana. So, when the kids are through, the adults will be getting through also. So, Monday nights, meal music, and a message every Monday night. Solid Rock, Renzi's schedule is in the bulletin.
1:03:56
He made the announcement in the first service but there will not be the Friday that we do not have school here. We will not be having the Friday breakfast that we usually do before school when school is not in next week. Peak Children's Church started this morning. So, that's for kids during the first service and other than that, check your bulletin. There are lots of things going on and I think I have one more announcement that I have forgotten.
1:04:20
There's a grief study. Yes, that starts on Thursday. So, there are two things on Thursdays that that I forgot. First of all, Jane Cranenburg is leading a precept study on the book of
1:04:30
It's called the good, the bad, and the ugly is second kings, second chronicles, and Zephaniah.
1:04:36
Alright. So, Jane is leading that in the fellowship hall at 09:00. Usually goes nine to eleven ish, 11:30 sometimes and then Ann Stalker is leading a grief class going through grief, the road to Emmaus. And that is at twelve noon on Thursdays, twelve to one for lunch and that's it. Other than that, would you check your bulletin?
1:05:00
You can put em up on your refrigerator. Y'all can stand up and greet one another and we'll
1:05:05
bring
1:05:05
you back together with another song.
1:05:07
Rock of Ages. Clap for me. Here we go. Rock of Ages. Clap for me.
1:05:17
Let me hide myself in thee. Let the water and the blood I must save and thou alone in my hand. No press I bring. Simply to the cross I cling while I draw this fleeting breath when my life shall close in death when I rise to worlds unknown and behold thee on thy throne rock of ages clap for me
1:06:33
turn to hymn number six thirty. If you want to sing your part and we're going to sing, what a friend we have in Jesus.
1:08:56
Will find us all is there
1:09:02
Amen. Get the, y'all can have a seat and get the frontline team to come forward, please. And I I'll just pray. Lord God, we thank you for what for this beautiful summer, lord, for this beautiful time we have this morning. We just look at it and and wonder and awe of you and the beauty lord that you have made but how much more beautiful you are.
1:09:30
So God, I I thank you for everything that you've given. We know that every good and perfect gift comes from above And God, we wanna acknowledge that and show that we trust you by giving back some of what you've given to us. And lord, would you ask I I ask you that you would bless these tithes and offerings as we collect them, lord, that we would truly do with these whatever is required by your good gospel. God, would you advance your kingdom through your willing servants, giving through your willing servants, ministering through your willing servants. Go on.
1:10:11
Lord, would you amplify this to the ends of the earth. In Jesus name, Lord. Amen. Karen Crabb is gonna come forward and sing.
1:10:48
I come to the garden of the dew is still on the roses and the voice I hear falling on my ear. The son of God discloses and And he walks with me and he talks with me and he tells me I am his soul their singing and the melody that he gave to me within my heart is ringing walks with me and he talks with me and he tells me I am his own and the joy we share as we tarry there Though the night around me be falling, but he bids me go through the voice of woe, his voice to me is calling. And he walks with me and he talks with me and he tells me I am his old and the joy we share
1:13:57
Thank you. Thank you, Karen. So are these things? I know half of you wanna see the mountains and half of you wanna see whatever's going on in here. So is it does that help?
1:14:15
Yes. Okay. Alright. That's better. Everybody that's that's a compromise, right?
1:14:24
We had half the service with it and half service without it. So, there you go. We are up to second Corinthians four and if you remember, actually last week, I covered up through ten. So, it would make sense that we'd start with 11 this week but I'm trying to keep a bit of a wet edge. Any of y'all painters in here?
1:14:42
Painters all the way through seminary, I painted a lot. I did a lot of carpentry and a lot of painting and you don't want for things to get dry. If you paint half of something, it's not a good deal. When you go back and try to paint up next to it, there's always a kind of a you can tell and so, we're keeping a wet edge. We're going to go back over what we painted last week a little bit overlap at the match.
1:15:03
I did this primarily because eight and nine especially, but eight, nine and ten were very, very helpful. And I had a lot of people come in this week that said, that's right where I'm living life right now. And so I want to cover it but in a little bit more depth. So, I'm going put the plow down a couple inches and try to dig a little deeper. But I want to start off with verse 16.
1:15:28
So, as a total, we're going to go eight through 18 but the therefore in 16 is describing everything I'll be saying in verses eight through 15, okay? Actually, it goes back probably further than that to seven. We have this treasure in jars of clay. It'll go back to that. But look at this.
1:15:47
Therefore, we do not lose heart even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. Therefore, we do not lose heart even though our outward is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. So one of the things that comes along with this job of preaching and teaching and ministering is that I get to do memorial services and funeral service, also weddings and visit in the hospital and that sort of stuff. But I did this week a funeral for a little lady, Doris Platts, and a lot of y'all know her. And she's a unique individual.
1:16:24
She driven, driven lady. And when she found out that her esophageal cancer was inoperable, she knew that her body was diminishing. But rather than languish there at a hospital, she said, wanna go home. I wanna finish my book. So she was writing a book and she wanted to finish.
1:16:47
And she had that drive within her to this is something that she really felt passionate about, something that she felt called of God to do. And all of her friends from all the different segments of her life, all the different spheres were here in one place for her memorial the other day. And we told story after story about her heart and drive, and not losing heart, not despairing, not losing heart. But her outward person was diminishing quite for some time for several years for most of it. You know her.
1:17:17
We heard stories that, my goodness, I I couldn't have thought of Doris that way because I've only known her for five years. Her outward person was perishing. There was no doubt about it, especially in those last three weeks where she was unable to eat, unable to drink, and she just diminished. And you could see it. But day by day, we could see that she was being renewed.
1:17:35
How many of y'all helped and went over to her house and stay with her for a little while? Several of you did. Did you see that? I saw that. I saw that that was the case and she had more and more confidence as she approached the end in her God and in his ministry, in her life, and the life of her church and her friends.
1:17:51
So, therefore, we do not lose heart even though our outward man is perishing. Yet, the inward man is being renewed day by day. One step closer to glory. I'm going to back up. This is the New King James version of verses eight, nine, 10.
1:18:07
I'm gonna read the whole thing first. And then we're gonna alternate back and forth between New King James, which is a great translation, and my translation that I used last week that includes all those little grammatical nuances that are kinda hard to read and it's a little bit cumbersome. My my professors in Greek would call it a wooden translation. It's wooden because, yes, it gets everything said that needs to be said but it's a little bit weird in English. It's a little bit blocky looking.
1:18:33
But this is the New King James. We are hard pressed on every side yet not crushed. We are perplexed but not in despair. Persecuted but not forsaken. Struck down but not destroyed.
1:18:46
Always carrying about in the body, the body of us, actually, our body. But always carrying about in the body, the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus may be manifested, may also be manifested in our body. And that led us up to communion last week. That's where we stopped and we did the Lord's supper. Remembering the dying of the Lord Jesus because that is what brings us together.
1:19:13
In fact, I circled in one of our hymns this morning. Be of sin the double cure. Save from wrath, that's salvation but make me pure. That's sanctification. That's what his word is good for.
1:19:24
That's what Jesus came for. That's what he died on the cross for and the dying of the Lord Jesus shows that it's his deal. He did the work and if we accept it, that life of Jesus may also be made manifest in this body but it it is God's work accepted by his people. So, this is my translation. Little wooden admittedly.
1:19:50
We are being hard pressed on every side. The hard pressed right there Is the same word that is used of Jesus when he's in the multitudes and the people are thronging him. Oh, the mighty throng, the multitude repressing on him from every side and then a lady touched the hem of his garment. That's the same word, Okay? The thronging is you're receiving pressure from all sides, and it is about pressure.
1:20:17
They they didn't have exactly the same concepts we do about air pressure. You know, that sort of physics type stuff is not the language, but it is the same thing. We are being compressed on every side, especially having seen the jars of clay reference just above this. We're being hard pressed. Have you ever seen anybody knead clay, or they just slam it down to the table and they're pressing it in all over the place.
1:20:43
We're hard pressed on every side. I'll come back to that. I'll probably mention it again towards the end of the sermon. If you wanna look ahead to second Corinthians 11 verses 23 through 28, Paul gives the list of the ways that he's been hard pressed on every side. Okay?
1:21:02
If you wanna look ahead, I I hear some pages flipping. It's better. I don't see the blue glow from people's screens. We're being hard pressed on every side. That is actuality.
1:21:12
The pressure is felt from all different angles. In fact, he's that every side could be in every way or in everything. He sees that there is an abundant amount of weight and pressure pressing in on him. Yet, he says, we're not being crushed. Even though there is pressure from all sides, good and bad and ugly as Jane just said back there a minute ago, even though we're seeing the pressure from all sides, we're not being crushed.
1:21:40
Now both of those are passive verbs. We are being hard pressed. That is not something that we are necessarily doing to ourself. We're being hard pressed. We're being acted on by another force.
1:21:52
Do you all know what a passive voice is? Does anybody here know what it is? Good. A few grammar nerds are in here. So if I were to say Scott Humphrey hit a hole in one, that is active voice.
1:22:02
That is true. Scott Humphrey did hit a hole in one. But But in humility, I've heard Scott say this coming back off the course which is rare but anyway, you're coming back off the course. No, he said, a hole in one was hit. That's passive.
1:22:21
That's passive voice. He's saying, a hole in one was hit. He didn't say who did it and some people would even call that the divine passive. Since no agent was listed, the divine passive means God caused this to happen. I'm attributing this to God and that's what I do with Scott's hole in one.
1:22:40
So, that's why I wanted to use that. But that's the passive voice. It's not give, you know, it's given the credit to this some people would say impersonal force. I believe God is a personal, personal being not an impersonal force but this active versus passive. We are being hard pressed.
1:23:00
Now, who's doing the action in that one? The world, the the enemy, our friends, every side, friendly fire, ministers, other people. We are being hard pressed. Paul says, on every side and we'll get to that again. That second Corinthians 11, we'll cover it in the end of this sermon and then when we get to it.
1:23:23
Yet we are not being crushed. We are perplexed, the New King James says, and that's a good translation. We are perplexed. But what does perplexed mean? Perplexed.
1:23:37
Perplexed is to be without resources, to be in dire straits, to be left wanting, to be embarrassed even because you don't have what's needed. You don't have the answers to be in doubt and not to know which way to turn. That's what perplexed means. The interesting thing about this perplexed here, and I mentioned it last week in passing, is this one is not both of those first ones are either middle or passive. It's an ambiguous form for those of you who care.
1:24:08
This one is middle for sure. And we are perplexed, and the middle voice is very, very interesting. We, Paul says, ourselves. We ourselves are perplexed. Now he's speaking to the Corinthians who have gone who are going through a time.
1:24:27
They look up to some of them look up to his authority. And he's saying, listen, We're hard pressed on every side. Me and my running buddies, the ones who are ministering. We're hard pressed on every side, but we're not being crushed. He goes, we ourselves are perplexed.
1:24:43
So I don't I don't fault you for being confused. I don't fault you for feeling like you're without resources people because I'm in that position too. He's being very human, if that's the best translation right there. But the other translation for that so this is we ourselves oftentimes are not seeing a way out. That's one way of looking at this.
1:25:03
But the other way is this, the middle voice is where you do an action to yourself. So that's what middle voice is. We are perplexing ourselves. The more we think about this situation, the worse it seems to get. The less we trust that things are going to go well because we're trying to lean on our own own understanding.
1:25:30
Proverbs three five says, trust in the Lord with all your heart. He does mighty and great things and we see that throughout the whole Old Testament. We see it in the New Testament that he's always showing up, always rescuing. When people call out in faith, he always responds and lean not on your own understanding because if you truly understand the nature of the situation, it is paralyzing. If you're trying to complete things yourself without trusting in him.
1:25:54
The paralysis of analysis. We are perplexing ourselves. Do you find that that's true? Do we do that? Yes.
1:26:02
We do that. I do that. But not in despair. That's a good translation, but it loses the fact that it's passive. Again, this is a passive verb.
1:26:14
We are not being driven to despair. We're not being driven to despair. That's an outside force that's acting on us. I believe this one is the divine passive. These we're perplexing ourselves is definitely middle.
1:26:29
It can't be either it's that. We are perplexing ourselves but not being driven to utter despair is God will always leave us away. He'll always leave us a way out. It might be through death but he will always leave us a way out. When Doris passed, she did not pass in despair.
1:26:51
She passed with great hope and expectation and was freed from this mortal coil, which has been diminishing for a long, long time. She was not driven to utter despair. I've had a guy that came into my office a while back, and he said, I just watched somebody go through this long sickness and they died. And they just shrieked with pain, they just had such a hard time, and they did not wanna die. And I felt so bad for him.
1:27:17
And I said, me too. He said, it's always like that. I said, no. No. It's not.
1:27:21
I didn't laugh at him. Sorry. But I said, no, it's not. It's that's not the way that it is. I said, I've had the privilege of holding the hand of many people now as they passed and they passed with a Amen.
1:27:38
Not being driven to utter despair. Even in death, not being driven to utter despair. Now, what's interesting about this too is we're only in the fourth chapter and Paul's already used this word at one other time and he says in this passage one eight through 10, for we do not want for you to be ignorant, brothers and sisters, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength. It sounds like he was hard pressed from every side. Right?
1:28:10
Above our strength so that we despaired even of life. He was saying that he thought that he was gonna die. In fact, he might've might even be saying he wanted to die. He says to die is gain in Philippians but so that we despaired even of life. We did not know how we're gonna go on.
1:28:26
We did not have the resources. We were perplexing ourselves and we were despairing even of life. Yes, we had a sentence of death in ourselves so that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead. That's why he got to that point. Paul recognizes that getting to the most difficult place in life where he despaired of even life itself was so that we should not trust in ourselves but in God.
1:28:55
Lean not on your own understanding. Trust in God. He will make your path straight. He will direct your paths. In God who raises the dead.
1:29:04
Now, the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is the power that's at work in you. He says elsewhere, who delivered us from so great a death and he does deliver us. That's Paul's statement. He knows that that's what God does. When you look to him, that's what God does.
1:29:21
Other than that, you're going to be perplexing yourself but you don't have to be in despair. He says that despair caused him to trust more in God. God got him through that situation. Persecuted. Now what does persecuted mean?
1:29:37
And I'll say my translation there was being, and that's continual action verb, but it's also a passive participle. Being persecuted. What does that mean? To persecute. Properly, it is to aggressively chase like a hunter pursues his quarry apprise.
1:29:55
There are a few guys in here who hunt. I'm not a hunter but there are few guys in here who hunt and when we're in any meeting here at the church and we're trying to decide when something should happen. When should we do XYZ? There are a few guys that are sitting there scratching their little scraggly beards going, nope, can't be that day. Right?
1:30:14
They are already thinking about it. When it's not even the season, they're thinking about, I drew a sheep tag. I'm I'm going to be on top of a mountain somewhere on that day. They are aggressively chasing like a hunter pursues his quarry or his prize to zealously hunt down with all haste and they'll spend any amount of money to do it. They're going to go after this beast.
1:30:37
To earnestly desire to overtake and or apprehend. I know a guy who lost 50 pounds. Can't get him to back away from the table for anything. This is not me, by the way. But can't get him to back away the table with anything.
1:30:48
He drew a sheep tag one year and he lost 50 pounds because he said, you can't do that if you're carrying around this extra weight. That is aggressively persecuting something. Earnestly desiring to overtake and apprehend such that you change your life to make that happen. Well, he's saying that we are continually being persecuted as Christians. Do you feel it?
1:31:11
Do you feel it? Maybe you don't feel it here the way that they feel it in Syria or in Egypt or in The Middle East. You might not feel it in exactly the same way as they do in Central Asia, but secularists and other ists and isms do pursue fairly vehemently after Christians for their Christian faith and their belief. And they earnestly desire to overtake or apprehend. So persecuted, chased after like a hunter chases quarry, but not forsaken.
1:31:46
This forsaken not being forsaken. Definitely a divine passive here. There's no doubt about it. Not being forsaken by whom? Because though the whole world turns its back on you, even your best friend, your brother, your sister may turn their back on you but God says, low, I'm with you always.
1:32:05
Amen. He will not leave you or forsake you. He said that. For those who put their faith in him, he does not leave or forsake. So persecuted continually but not being forsaken.
1:32:22
Strut down. Strut down is a good translation. Being cast down is probably a better translation. Being cast down, especially since he references in verse seven, we have this treasure in jars of clay so that we will show the glory of God, show forth the glory of God and since it's clay, one of the main words that they used for the breaking of or the casting down of jars of clay was this, if a potter were to make a pot that was unsuitable or leaked or didn't work exactly as he intended it, what he would do is cast it down, break it up, and use the grog later on. But probably an even better translation is this, being body slammed.
1:33:08
I'm not joking. It's a wrestling term. It's a term for that maneuver when they grab you, pick you oh, I'll just show you the maneuver. This is it right here. Grab you and pick you up and body slam you, throw you down to the mat where you are laying down.
1:33:24
And that hurts. You know? Even when they fake it, it hurts. Picking you up and throwing you down where you're flat at your back. He says, struck down but not destroyed.
1:33:33
I'd say, being body slammed but not being utterly destroyed, not to the point that you're tapping out, not to the point that he's got your pen. He's not going to be able to keep you down, not utterly destroyed. Utter destruction does happen. It happens to those who do not put their faith in Christ. Utter destruction is very very real.
1:33:54
Hell is real. But Paul believes in Jesus and he has no doubt that he will not be utterly destroyed. Even though you take the body and he had taken some beatings by this point. We'll talk about the list later. He says, I'm not gonna be utterly destroyed though.
1:34:08
I'll take the beating because the message is worth it. I'll take that beating because you need to hear what it is that God has done. Always caring about in the body which I covered last week, the body of Christ, the dying of the Lord Jesus, that is the body, our body, technically, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in this, our body. So, this to me, I'm I'm resolute about it in my own mind for sure, is no doubt referencing the body of Christ, though some translations don't reflect that. Let's get back to this.
1:34:44
Therefore, we do not lose heart. After seeing this whole list, does that encourage you? It encourages me to know that self, sin, the world, the devil don't have the power over me to actually crush me, to actually bring me to despair, to cause God to forsake me or to destroy me. They don't have that power over me. It's encouraging to hear that.
1:35:11
Even though the pressure is very, very real because we all know that. We've experienced that kind of pressure. Therefore, we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. That's verse 16.
1:35:26
We're still building towards that mountaintop. Okay? For we who live, those of us who are living, that's continuous action two. Those of us who are living are always being delivered to death for Jesus' sake. Now, Paul, think about this for a minute.
1:35:41
He's in a time where there were martyrs. Big time, right? The martyrs, his he was there holding the cloaks when Stephen was stoned. We who are living and believe in Jesus are always being delivered to death for Jesus' sake. Because we put our faith in him, there will be those who pursue, persecute.
1:36:06
There will be those who seek to take even the life if possible. For we who are living are always being delivered to death, Paul had experienced his own close friends going to death. And he knew that he was subject to that at any time, had it had narrowly escaped it several times. For we who are living are always being delivered to death for Jesus sake so that or in order that the life of Jesus also may be made manifest in our mortal flesh. Now, this one, he's talking about his own physical body and the physical bodies of those servants of Christ.
1:36:40
He's saying, I'm willing to subject myself to the punishment to endure the fellowship of Christ's sufferings because the message is worth it. The spiritual realities are more important than the physical beatings that I I'll take and he mentions that later on too. It's worth it. So then, he says, death is working in us. Those of us who carry this message but life is working in you because we stepped up because we're willing to take it.
1:37:10
You now have access to God through Jesus Christ. Through belief in Jesus, you have access to God. But it's because we're willing to stand up up on even under punishment of death so that life would be available to you. And since we have the same spirit of faith and Paul is calling again for the unity of him himself. He's not saying it's us and them, us and you.
1:37:39
We, and when he says we, sometimes he means his running buddies, the ones who are carrying the gospel with him but I think he's including the Corinthians right here and since we have the same spirit of faith according to what is written, I believed and therefore, I spoke. We also believe and therefore, we speak. Do you get that? That's a reference to Psalm one sixteen. The Psalm has says, I believed and I spoke.
1:38:06
I speak out of what I believe. Jesus said that out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. If you have the gospel of grace embedded in your heart and it's overflowing, it's gonna come out of your mouth. He's saying, I believe and therefore I spoke. I could not hold this message back.
1:38:27
Since we have that same spirit of faith according to what is written, I believe and therefore, I spoke. We also believe and we therefore speak knowing that he who raised up the Lord Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus and he will present us with you. He's saying, I know you're Christians. I'm not down your salvation, people. I'm not trying to get you to cause any kind of perplexing yourselves here.
1:38:51
I'm not get trying to get you to doubt your own salvation. I believe this. Therefore, I'm speaking it and I know that the one who raised up Jesus will raise me up in the last day and I I know also he's going to raise you up. We'll be there together. He's looking forward to that home in heaven above that we used to sing a lot more hymns about and contemporary things in contemporary circles have gotten away from singing about heaven because we don't want to be guilty of the pie in the sky by and by everything else doesn't matter.
1:39:19
You're so heavenly minded. You're of no earthly good. We don't want to get accused of that. So, back off of the eternal or future rewards but don't do that. Paul never backed off from it.
1:39:31
Don't be afraid to look forward to that time. So, knowing that he who raised up the Lord Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus and will present us with you. What an eternal thing that is to be a part of the family God. For all things, for your sakes, all things are for your sakes, that grace, the unmerited favor of almighty God, that grace having spread through the many, may cause Thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God. That grace being spread through the many, that's treating everyone with grace.
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As a Christian, God offers grace to all. It's a very, very real invitation, and we should extend that same grace. If we've accepted it, we ought to be extending that same kind of grace to everybody and having that grace spread through the many. Some will reject it. Oh well, that's part of being hard pressed on every side.
1:40:27
Having spread through the many that that grace may cause Thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God. What happens when you extend grace to someone and they accept it? They're thankful and God gets the glory for that. Think about last week, Paul said, we're not preaching ourselves. We're preaching Jesus as lord.
1:40:45
So, if he's lord and people accept that, that causes Thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God. Therefore, we do not lose heart. This is our theme, right? We do not lose heart. So far, we've seen why because all those things that the world and the sin and the devil and even ourselves at times can throw at us cannot separate us from God's love and it cannot keep him from saving us.
1:41:09
So, therefore, we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, I'll give you that, Paul says. It's true. I'm getting decrepit. I've been beaten enough times.
1:41:18
Slowing down some. The years are stacking up. Even though our outward man is perishing, I'll give you that. And I'm not prospering right now physically, maybe materially either. This goes and flies directly in the face of the prosperity gospel, which, by the way, is hogwash.
1:41:37
The health and wealth gospel has no place. It does not come from the New Testament. I don't know where it comes from. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.
1:41:57
The light and momentary affliction. Paul sets this up on the scale and he says this, for our light affliction that isn't but for a moment is working for us a more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. So he's putting eternal glory on the scale, though he cannot see it, and he'll mention that in a few minutes. Against the things that he can see and feel and taste and smell, he's putting these on the balance and eternal glory so far outweighs it that there's no question what he'll do. There's no question how he's gonna live his life.
1:42:31
He's gonna live his life for things above, not below. And this is that second Corinthians 11 passage. I've referenced it like in four sermons now. I'm just gonna read it. When we get to it, we'll cover it again.
1:42:44
So Paul is talking and actually, when he's talking at this point, he's he knows that the super apostles, false apostles, the ones who have been leading them into health and wealth error, the ones who've been leading them into a comfortable Christianity. He knows that they're being foolish by boasting and so he says right before this which is great, he goes, alright. I don't normally do this but y'all are doing it all the time. I'm gonna speak in a language you understand. They boast all the time.
1:43:12
I'm gonna act like a fool and just boast right alongside them right now. But this is the true record of what had happened to him. We see it other places. I'm gonna boast for just a minute, and this is what I would boast. In stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently than all those guys, the super false apostles.
1:43:32
In deaths, often, from the Jews, five times I received the 40 stripes minus one. That was the most severe punishment, you know, corporal punishment that you could give sure the death penalty. From the Jews, five times I received 40 stripes minus one. Three times, I was beaten with rods. Once, I was stoned.
1:43:53
Three times, I was shipwrecked. Three times shipwrecked? A night and a day, I have been in the deep. Paul, treading water for a night and a day. Light affliction.
1:44:13
In journeys often, how many of y'all travel much? You know why this is in this list if you travel much? You travel even on airlines, it's bad but imagine in his day, in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren. He's got friendly fire coming at him. When he says he's hard pressed on every side, he means it.
1:44:47
Look at this list. In perils among false brethren, friendly fire. In weariness and in toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger, and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness, And besides the other things, what comes upon me daily, my deep concern for all the churches. Is he hard pressed on every side? Yeah.
1:45:11
No doubt no doubt about that one. Yet he lists all of that as a momentary and light affliction. It's only for a moment. James says, this life is but a vapor. It's here and then gone.
1:45:27
But what you do here matters for eternity. What you accept or reject here matters for eternity. For our light affliction, which is for but for a moment is working for us. The other thing is he says that this momentary and light affliction, this suffering, he he calls it elsewhere the fellowship of the suffering of Christ. That is what is actually working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.
1:45:51
Being willing to put up with all that comes with accepting the gospel. For Paul, it's what is working for this eternal glory. You are saved by belief. Faith in Christ, that's what you're saved by. All of this suffering, if God calls you into it, it's part of it.
1:46:16
Therefore, we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. So we had the therefore that points backwards to everything. It was building up to this peak. We do not lose heart.
1:46:29
We're being renewed every day. That's the affirmation that we need, that we look for. How many of y'all want to be renewed every day? I do. How many of you wanna not lose heart?
1:46:38
I don't. So the therefore looks back to all of that in front of it. And then the four here through the end of the chapter is explaining it a slightly different way, but it's coming down from that mountaintop and explaining how it was to be up there. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. It's not temporal.
1:47:01
It's not a vapor in passing. This will last forever. An eternal weight of glory. While we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
1:47:20
Paul's already said this once before too in first Corinthians two nine. He says, but as it is written and he's quoting Isaiah, Isaiah sixty four four here. I has not seen nor ear heard nor has entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love him. He is looking forward to heaven. He's looking forward to Beulah Lamb being one with God and knowing as he is known and seeing as things are and not through a glass dimly like he says now, because what we see in front of us is not ultimate reality.
1:47:55
It matters, but it's not ultimate. It's not all that matters. Eye has not seen nor you heard nor has entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love him. Therefore, we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.
1:48:16
I didn't do a takeaway slide this time. And I said that after the first service that I felt like I just wanted to walk downstairs and cry. That's part of my own pressure, I guess. Pressure sometimes put on yourself. I'm going to read something.
1:48:34
John John Piper actually wrote this and he says that these are kind of the takeaways from it. It's a lavish invitation from God for you to look at all the reasons why you don't have to lose heart. All the reasons why you can be renewed day after day. Look, the power of God and the life of the son are manifested in your weakness. We see that.
1:48:57
Verse seven, verse eight. Look, the life of Jesus is flowing through your suffering into the lives of other people. We see that in this passage. Look, God sustains you in your afflictions and will not allow you to be utterly destroyed. Look, your afflictions will not have the last word.
1:49:22
You will rise from the dead with Jesus and be with his church triumphant. And live in joy forever and ever. Look, your afflictions are momentary. They're only for now but the they're not for the age to come. Look, your afflictions are light compared to the pleasures of what's coming.
1:49:43
They are as nothing. And look, these afflictions are producing for you an eternal weight of glory that's beyond all comparison. I gave a little bit of a challenge to the first service this morning. And I've noticed that everybody that's reading along, you'll come in and go, oh man, this is so good but but it's not everybody that's reading along. Some of us like to not not read ahead, you know?
1:50:07
I'm going to challenge you if you would. Read through this book. Read through second Corinthians and try to get ahead. Read the whole book if you would. Read the whole book of it and just see how it goes together because I feel like keeping that wet edge, part of the reason that I I feel like I need to do that is because everything builds off of the other and he circles back around the arguments often.
1:50:27
He's weighing things out and then he circles back around a little later and he's weighs those things out again. It comes up the same every time. The Christ is worth it but he keeps on saying it. I'd like for y'all to have that kind of perspective. So, would you read second Corinthians this week?
1:50:42
And the other thing is, if we can get back to the whole verses in the New King James here. Would you there we are. Right there. Would you memorize this? I had somebody come up to me last week and said, I put that in my notes page on the phone.
1:51:05
That's one of those that I wanna remember because there are times where I feel that hard pressure. There are times when I feel that being perplexed or perplexing myself. There are times that I feel really persecuted by the people that used to be my friends. There are times that I feel like I've been body slammed. I wanna remember that I'm not gonna be crushed.
1:51:26
I wanna remember that I don't need to be in despair. I wanna remember that I'm not forsaken, and I wanna remember that I will not be destroyed by this. So would you memorize that? It's verses eight and nine, actually, in whatever version you have and like. Second Corinthians four eight and nine.
1:51:43
And I'm going to do the same thing because I don't know it. So, I'm going to do the same thing but would you read ahead to second Corinthians all the way through? Imma invite Scott and Bob back up to the front and Judy, if you would play. And we are gonna sing, I surrender all. The thing about surrender, especially with all these passive verbs and that one middle voice verb, The thing about surrender is that you're saying, I trust you, God.
1:52:14
I trust you, divine one. I trust you to do with me what you will do. So, I yield my will to yours and I will let you take it. I'm surrendering it to you. Would you stand with us as we sing?
1:52:49
I will ever love and trust him in his presence daily. I surrender all. All forsaken take me Jesus take me now I surrender all surrender all to thee my blessed savior I surrender all to Jesus I surrender lord I give myself to thee fill me with thy love and power let thy blessing fall on me surrender all I surrender to thee my blessed savior I surrender all Thank you.
1:54:46
Amen. Let me grab a benediction. I don't have didn't have one handy, but I know right where I wanna go. So we're going to the end of first Corinthians again. First Corinthians fifteen fifty seven and fifty eight.
1:55:02
But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ and therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast and immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
1:55:15
Amen.
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