Conquering Our Problems Part 2

Pastor Mike will be speaking on Conquering Our Problems Part 2. He will be reading out of 2nd Corinthians 1:1-11.

Church, there will be many trials, but we have to get to the point that we no longer trust ourselves, but we trust God to help us. We rely completely and fully upon Him. This is Pastor Mike Sanders and you’re listening to Hope Worth Having.

It’s time to get back into the Bible and we are delighted with the opportunity to be able to teach God’s Word to you today. And we’re going to be in 2 Corinthians chapter 1 verses 1 through 11, continuing our study in the book of 2 Corinthians and learning how to conquer our problems.

Life is full of problems and I want you to be encouraged, grab your coffee and let’s get to studying as we open God’s Word together. If you have your Bible this morning, join me in 2 Corinthians chapter 1.

We’re going to continue our study and I’ve entitled it Conquering Our Problems. I want you to consider a question this morning. What is the most painful thing that you have ever experienced in your life?

The Bible says man is born under trouble. Many have endured more pain than we can imagine, not just physically but emotionally, spiritually. They have endured pain of life. Again, Job teaches us that man that is born of a woman is of a few days and full of trouble.

The pains that we experience in life, they change us. In many ways they shape us, sometimes for the better but sometimes for the worse. When we come to the passage this morning in 2 Corinthians chapter 1, Paul the Apostle is sharing with us his most painful experience.

And I’d like to show you how it changed him, how he learned very important lessons that are essential for us as we walk through the painful experiences of life, important for us as we strive to conquer the problems that we encounter in life.

The Apostle Paul was able to move from his pain to when we get to the end of verse 11 to a point of pure praise to God. And that’s where God would like us to be, to be a joyful people in the trials, to be a praising people during the struggle, to be a singing people even though…

The storm is all around. This church at Corinth was facing many problems. It could be described as a turbulent church. It certainly was not an easy church to pastor. The Apostle Paul reveals his heart to them.

And part of the reason that he reveals his heart to them is because for many of them, they were being misdirected and they were misunderstanding the ministry of the Apostle. And also because he recognized that some of them, as they were lashing out to the Apostle and criticizing him and finding fault with him, that it was rooted in some of the pain that they themselves were experiencing.

I’ve often heard it said that hurting people hurt people. And sometimes when we are hurting, we hurt others. And we hurt those who are closest to us. The Apostle shares his heart. And as he is sharing his heart, he is reminding God’s people that there is comfort for them in their pain.

Through this section of Scripture in verses 1 through 11, the word comfort is mentioned 10 times. And so the Apostle wants us to note that God’s comfort is available to each heart that reaches out to him.

So let’s learn some things. Let’s do a little bit of a review so that we’re all on the same page. We learned the last time as we opened this text that problems lead us to God’s comfort. And that if there’s anything that ought to drive us to the person of comfort, who is God himself, the God of all comfort, it is certainly that we should allow our problems, move us to him.

Now, many people… But when they experience pain, they run away from God. They run away from the church. They isolate themselves from His truth. They fail to pray. They fail to be in the Word. They fail to be among God’s people.

But God wants just the opposite. He wants us to recognize that He is the Father of mercies and He is the God of all comfort. The second thing we learned is that problems equip us to comfort others. This comfort that we are receiving is reciprocal.

This comfort that we are receiving from God is designed to not be held, to not simply hold onto it for ourselves, but to use it as a catalyst to minister to others. that God is equipping each of our hearts, that as we walk through the journey of life, and we experience the pains of just humanity, as we walk through the sufferings of life, that God is in some way equipping you and equipping me, that we may effectively share the comfort that is from God.

This is essential in recognizing that God has purpose in our problems, that God has a design for our difficulties, that God is up to something very special, and He is calling us into a partnership of His sufferings.

You will note in verse 5 of 2 Corinthians chapter 1, for as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounded by Christ. Or the word consolation could be encouragement abounds as you and I are experiencing abounding sufferings, meaning it seems like when it rains it pours.

When we see the problems of life, they just seem to come and come in waves. God is reminding you His comfort abounds as well, that it’s not like God just gives you a drop, but His comfort is coming to you in waves, and that it is His comfort that we have a partnership as we are walking through the sufferings of this world.

We have also learned, the third thing is that problems produce endurance in our life. Now in verse 6, again the apostle says, whether we be afflicted, it is for the coming of God. Consolation and salvation it is for your consolation and salvation Again showing us that there is some kind of meaning in our problems There is some kind of purpose in our suffering though.

We may not fully understand the wise of what we are experiencing that God is using those trials That we might bring encouragement to the believer That is suffering That is watching but also that we might bring salvation to an unbelieving world that is watching for as they look at our life and they see our confidence in Christ and they see our faithfulness to Christ even as we walk through the valley of the shadow of death that in somehow in some way that God is Awakening hearts through our example He is awakening hearts to salvation through our affliction.

And he reminds us in verse 6, this is effectual. It’s effective in the enduring of the same sufferings, which we also suffer. Meaning that as we exemplify a faithfulness to God, that there is an effectiveness of endurance being built into our hearts.

That the problems of life are producing endurance in our life. This word endurance in the Greek is houpo mene. And it means to be under the pressure, under the pressure. But not just being under the pressure, it’s the idea of remaining under the pressure.

Not that you choose suffering, not that you desire or have some kind of a martyr complex to suffer. But rather you remain faithful to God under the pressure. Although the load is heavy, that you are bearing, that you continue to be steadfast, patient, and you continue to move forward in your faith enduring for the Lord Jesus Christ.

This is what Paul is teaching us, is that problems are effectively producing endurance in our life. It is producing, if you will, a sense of spiritual character in our life. Problems are shaping us, as we said at the outset.

They are either shaping us to be better for God or worse. They are either shaping us to be more reliant on God or less dependent upon Him. This choice is ours. What do we do? when the problems come into our life?

Do we allow God to use problems to develop our spiritual character? Do we run from our relationships? Do we run from our problems? Do we run from the people? Do we run or do we keep enduring in this generation where everything is so quick and everything is so fast?

We must understand that those humans want everything to keep speeding up, that there are things that God wants in our life to slow down. And one of them is that He is deepening our faith. He is rooting our walk with Him as we are enduring.

He does not always have a formula for you, for your problems. He does not always have a quick fix. for your trials. Sometimes in the journey of faith what God is calling us to do is to not fix everything but to endure as a good soldier.

We don’t want to hear that because we want relief from the pain and that is natural and normal but in the pain God is shaping the heart. And to help us understand that a little bit better I want you to note Romans chapter 5 in verse 3 and 4 in which the scriptures again through the apostle Paul are given to us in Romans chapter 5 verse 3 and 4 and you will note it says that not only that referring to our trials but we also glory in tribulations.

I want to stop right there. I mean how is it that the apostle could say that you and I need to glory in tribulations? I mean is anybody waking up and saying I hope I have a lot of problems today? Is anybody jumping out of bed and say I can’t wait to have a trial today?

I can’t wait for somebody to irritate me? No friends. But this is not what Paul is basing the glory on in that we are excited about tribulation but you’ll note as the verse continues he says this knowing that and see what it is that brings glory in the tribulation and what it is that causes us to move from pain to praise and from joy in the midst of our trials is that we know that God is using our tribulations to produce within us something that is effective and that is important in our spiritual character.

This is what God is doing. Now, again, it’s not my glory in tribulations. My praise in the problems is not based on how I feel. It’s not based upon the emotion of the moment, but it’s what the scripture says, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance, which means endurance, and perseverance, character, and character, hope.

Now, here’s what I want you to get, is that the development of the spiritual life is a process, and that when we study the scriptures and the gospels, we see that as Jesus is equipping his apostles and disciples, that many times he has a class, he teaches truth, he teaches a parable, he teaches from a circumstance or from an illustration, and then he sends them out to experience it.

He teaches on faith, and then he says. I want you to get in this boat and go across the Sea of Galilee knowing that there’s going to be a storm in the middle and knowing that he’ll meet them on the other side and they’re going to get through the storm, but they need to get through the storm to learn some valuable lessons in life.

And here’s how Jesus is teaching you. He is giving you his truth as you study his word and then he sends you out into life and guess what? Life has problems and he wants you to develop perseverance, character.

Why do you need perseverance and character? Because at the heart of every human is the great need of hope and hope does not come by somebody just being able to give you the power of positive thinking, but rather true hope that is rooted deep into the heart.

Hope that can stand at the foot of a grave and still praise God in the suffering and the hurt only comes about when there is endurance, perseverance, and character development in the trials of life. Paul would go on to say in Romans that hope will not disappoint.

The hope of the world will let you down, but the hope of Christ never fails us. And it is the hope that we have in Jesus Christ that helps us to walk through some of the deepest trials in life. And it is that comfort and it is that hope that is being infused in our hearts that is giving us not only endurance, but is equipping us to help our brothers and sisters in Christ who are hurting as well.

and saying, let me hold your hand, let me pray with you, let me listen to you, been there, done that, understand your feelings. I wanna keep giving you the hope of Jesus. I wanna keep bringing you back to Christ because this is how God is working.

He is producing endurance in our life. And endurance for the believer brings holiness. God is more interested in your holiness than your happiness. I know you thought Jesus wanted you to be happy. You thought following Christ would be the easiest thing you ever did in your life.

I tell you, it’s the hardest. To follow Christ goes against everything that is within our nature. That’s why it is a work of Christ and his spirit that brings us to salvation. And it is grace that helps us.

to stay faithful to Him. This endurance will also bring honor into your life. For as you walk the journey of faith, and you remain faithful to Christ, there is an honor that is upon you. And there is an honor that you will receive, that James tells us in James 1 .12, that those who are steadfast through the tribulations, the temptations, and the trials of life, they are the ones who will receive a very special crown in heaven.

What is this that God is teaching us? He is teaching us, fourthly, that problems teach us to rely on God. So this is where we left, and we come to verse seven. The Bible says, our hope of you is steadfast, knowing that as you are partakers or partners of the sufferings, so shall you be also of the consolation.

For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble, which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength in so much that we despaired even life. But we had the sentence of death in ourselves that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God, which raises the dead.

What I want you to see is that problems teach us to rely on God. The apostle Paul wants us to learn the lesson that he learned, that as he came to the moment of desperation, that he, the Bible says, despaired even life.

And what that means is that the apostle Paul did not even want to live. What is it that would make people want to come to the point of desperation to die? It is that the pain of living is more. than the pain of death.

This is how people get there. And the apostle is using stark language to us. And he is saying, we do not want you to be ignorant brethren of our trouble. He is challenging them to think rightly. He is opening his heart and he is saying, let me tell you where we were.

And the reason that he is doing this is that he recognizes that it’s important for us to think biblically about our problems. It’s important that as we look at our trials, that we look through the lens of the Bible, rather than our feelings and our emotions, that we develop the right godly attitude about our problems.

When we express wrong attitudes, they reveal our refusal to believe that God is in control. When we express wrong attitudes, They express a bitterness that is taking root in our hearts. When we express worldly, ungodly attitudes, we are pushing God away from us instead of drawing to Him.

That’s why in our trials, what really matters is not what happens to me, but what happens in me. What is God doing in me? This is important. Paul uses the word trouble. It’s often translated tribulation.

It is the idea of pressure. What kind of pressure did Paul have? Look at the text. Look at the text. What kind of pressure did he have? He said that he was pressed out of measure and above strength. He is saying we were so burdened, it was beyond what we could even measure.

Now, he is simply saying in a sense, I have had difficulties in the past. But this pressure that he’s describing is a pressure and a pain that was off the chart. It was above his own strength. He did not even have the reserves within himself to deal with it.

It was crushing him and he despaired even life. Now, I have to address a myth that permeates Christianity. People say God will never give you more than what you can bear. Apparently, you haven’t read your Bible.

Paul said it was above my strength. Paul said it was above what I could measure. God will never give you more than what God can bear. But many times he will give you more than what we can bear. And Paul explains why.

Because as he is trying to show us, as he uses this word, I despaired even life. It is a word that literally means there was no exit. There was no way. out I saw that there was no way no future for me I despaired even life look at verse 9 he said we had the sentence of death in ourselves why did you do this God to Paul hear me that we should not trust in ourselves but in God which raises the dead you see the only way that you can deal with some of the pain and problems of life is to totally cast yourself upon the powerful raising to life God that is available to all who believe in him Paul says we had the sentence of death that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead the Lord had brought the Apostle to the edge of the grave to teach him to trust the one who can work all things for good even when it seems like it is too late and there is no hope and there is no help the apostle learned a valuable lesson and he opened his heart to the church and he says let me tell you about my pain let me tell you about i was on the edge of death i did not want to live but i cast myself on the god who raises the dead you see it is distinguishable and it is distinct for there is no god in this world that can raise the dead for only the true jojoba yahweh the god of heaven our lord and savior can raise the dead and they can talk about all their miracles and they can talk about all their amazing stories but only god raises the dead and if god can bring life out of death he can bring life out of your pain he can bring life out of your problems and the only way that you can experience that life is by casting yourself upon god the apostle would teach the church at emphasis in acts 14 verse 22 that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of god church there will be many trials but we have to get to the point that we no longer trust ourselves but we trust god to help us we rely completely and fully upon him remember and we’ll learn later as we second corinthians chapter 12 verse 9 paul prayed he prayed three times and jesus said my grace is sufficient for thee for my strength is made perfect in weakness Paul’s response to Jesus’s response most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ not just any power but the power that raises the Savior from the grave the power of Christ may rest upon me you say I want the power of God in my life then my friends you must be prepared for God to bring you to the point of total desperation and only then will his power rest on you what you and I must grasp today is that God does not always get us out of our problems he doesn’t always pull us out of our mess that many times and most of the times he blesses us with grace to endure in the mess in the problem he strengthens us through his grace that is more than sufficient that we may move forward for Jesus Christ God is not asking you to move on.

He is not asking you to forget. He is not asking you to deny. But He is asking you to move forward in your trial as you rely on Him. And we can come to the time and the moment in our hearts where we recognize that the most accelerated times of spiritual growth have been during our difficult periods of life.

And perhaps if you are in pain today, it is because God wants to develop your faith in order to accomplish a wonderful result in your life. And God is challenging us to grow from what we are learning.

And I always like to say this to the church, there is a difference between learning and growing. You can’t grow without learning, but you can learn without growing. And whatever it is that you are learning in your pain, it is essential that you grow from it.

It is essential that you come to the point that you recognize that God is doing something within you. He is doing something through you. He is doing something around you. And that it is this knowledge of His good work in you and through you and around you that ought to bring praise in your heart that you would desire to see God do something special in your life.

What is it that we could ever learn to help us grow in our trials, to help us rely on God more? It is first that we must remember that our God is in control. Do not look at your circumstances as just the circumstances of fate, but rather that there is a sovereign God who somehow some way is in charge and in control.

And though we cannot always understand the mysteries and resolve the questions, but we do. We rest in the sovereignty of God and that we know the secret things belong to the Lord and we trust that He is in control.

We also learn that God is in our corner. Well I hope today’s message has really touched your heart because it’s important for us to recognize that God is the God of comfort and He comforts us through all of our trials and all of our tribulations.

We must look to Him for the answer and the strength that we need. The Lord is our strength and so as you have been learning these principles, may God strengthen your faith and root you in your walk with Him.

This is Pastor Mike Sanders reminding you that in Christ there is hope worth having.