Suffering

Slide 1: Suffering

Slide 2: Why It Happens, What It Does, And Comfort During

Slide 3: Why It Happens Why Does God Allow Suffering?

Slide 4: Why It Happens Ask Me For The Tape

Slide 5: What It Does

Slide 6: \"Comfort and prosperity have never enriched the world as much as adversity has.\" Billy Graham Enrichment Adversity

Slide 7: \"You will not find one Godly man who came out of an affliction worse than when he went into it. Though for a little while he was shaken, yet, at last, he was better for an affliction. But, a great many Godly men have been worse for their prosperity.\" Jeremiah Burroughs Better for it Affliction

Slide 8: Suffering produces passionate patience, virtue, and alertness to what God will do next.” Romans 5:2-5 Passionate Patience Virtue Alertness Suffering

Slide 9: Endurance Maturity of Character Confident Hope “Pressure and affliction and hardship produce patient and unswerving endurance, maturity of character, and confident hope of eternal salvation.” Romans 5:3-5 Pressure Affliction Hardship

Slide 10: Strengthened Soul Cleared Vision Inspired Ambition Achieved Success \"Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired, and success achieved.\" Helen Keller Trial Suffering

Slide 11: \"Christian character does not get strong by a life of success.\" Kimber Kauffman, pastor College Park Baptist Church, Indpls, IN Strong Character Failure

Slide 12: \"God whispers in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain. It is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world\" C.S. Lewis God's Voice Pain

Slide 13: \"If a bird is flying for pleasure it flies with the wind, but if it meets danger, it turns and faces the wind, in order that it may rise higher.\" Corrie ten Boom, surviver of a Nazi concentration camp Rise Higher Danger Wind

Slide 14: \"If you only knew what God had to take me through to get me to the place where he could use me to be a blessing to other people, I doubt whether you would be willing to pay the price.\" Chuck Swindoll Used To Be A Blessing To Others What You're Taken Through

Slide 15: \" Looking back it seems to me, All the grief that had to be, Left me when the pain was o'er, Stronger than I was before.\" Unknown Stronger Than Before Grief Pain

Slide 16: Obstacles Our strength often increases in proportion to the obstacles imposed upon it.\" Paul De Rapin Strength Proportionately Increases

Slide 17: \"The stronger the winds, the deeper the roots. The deeper the roots and the longer the winds, the more beautiful the tree.\" Charles Swindoll on Psalm 1 Deep Roots More Beautifull Tree Winds Long Winds

Slide 18: \"Most anyone can stand adversity, but to test a person's character give him power.\" Abraham Lincoln Test Of Character Power Adversity

Slide 19: \"Many a text [of Scripture] is written in a secret ink which must be held to the fire of adversity to make it visible.\" Charles Spurgeon Scripture Made Visible Adversity

Slide 20: \"If you had never known physical pain in your life, how could you appreciate the nail scarred hands with which Jesus Christ will meet you?\" Joni Erickson Tada Truly Appreciate Christ's Pain Physical Pain

Slide 21: \"Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. Knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.\" 1 Pet 5:-- He Cares They Share All Your Cares

Slide 22: Empathy With Christ Lean On God How Strong God Is Learn Obedience \"In a way I wish I could take to heaven my old, tattered Everest & Jennings wheelchair. I would point to the empty seat and say, \"Lord, for decades I was paralyzed in this chair. But it showed me how paralyzed You must have felt to be nailed to Your Cross. My limitations taught me something about the limitations You endured when You laid aside your robes of state and put on the indignity of human flesh.\" At that point, with my strong and glorified body, I might sit in it, rub the armrests with my hands, look up at Jesus, and add, \"the weaker I felt in this chair, the harder I leaned on You. And the harder I leaned, the more I discovered how strong You are. Thank you, Jesus for learning obedience in your suffering...You gave me grace to learn obedience in mine.\" Joni Eareckson Tada Limitations Weak Suffering

Slide 23: \"The greatest good suffering can do for me is to increase my capacity for God.\" Joni Eareckson Tada Increased Capacity For God Suffering

Slide 24: Patience God's Love God Glorified “When the pangs shoot through our body, and ghastly death appears in view, people see the patience of the dying Christian. Our infirmities become the black velvet on which the diamond of God's love glitters all the more brightly. Thank God I can suffer ! Thank God I can be made the object of shame and contempt, for in this way God shall be glorified.\" Charles Spurgeon Suffering Infirmities Shame Contempt

Slide 25: God's Strength Made Perfect The Power of Christ Rests Upon You \"And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.\" 2 Cor. 12:9 Weakness Infirmities

Slide 26: \"Paul reckoned his great trial to be a gift. It is well put. He does not say, \"there was inflicted on me a thorn in the flesh\", but \"there was given to me\". This is holy reckoning. Child of God, among all the goods of your house, you have not one single article that is a better token of divine love to you than your daily cross.\" Charles Spurgeon (2 Cor 12:7) A Gift No Better Token of Divine Love Great Trial Daily Cross

Slide 27: Comfort During

Slide 28: \"The Lord upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all those that be bowed down.\" Psa. 145:14

Slide 29: \"He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds\" Psa. 147:3

Slide 30: \"God...comforteth those that are cast down.\"

Slide 31: \"Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.\" Matt. 5:4

Slide 32: \"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.\" Matt. 11:28

Slide 33: \"Unless the Lord had been my help, my soul had almost dwelt in silence. When I said, My foot slippeth; thy mercy, O Lord, held me up. In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul.\" Psa. 94:17

Slide 34: \"Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. And our hope of you is stedfast, knowing that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation.\" 2 Cor. 1:3

Slide 35: \"Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer; Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep. \" Rom. 12:12

Slide 36: \"I am with thee\" Gen 26:24

Slide 37: \"For I know their sorrows\" Ex. 3:7

Slide 38: \"My flesh and my heart faileth me but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.\" Psa.73:26

Slide 39: \"For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities: but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.\" Heb. 6:18

Slide 40: \"I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy: for thou hast considered my trouble: though hast known my soul in adversities\" Psa. 31:7

Slide 41: \"What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not for God hath heard\" Gen. 16:7-13

Slide 42: \"The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms\" Deut. 33:27

Slide 43: \"The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou: Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.\" Psa. 9:9

Slide 44: \"God is our refuge and strength. a very present help in trouble.\" Psa 46:1

Slide 45: \"And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain\" Isa. 4:6

Slide 46: \"For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.\" Isa. 25:4

Slide 47: \"Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why are thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.\" Psa.42:5

Slide 48: \"Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee\" in another version: “Cast your cares upon the Lord, for he cares for you.” Psa. 55:22

Slide 49: \"Thou, which hast shewed me great and sore troubles, shalt quicken me again, and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth.\" Psa.71:20

Slide 50: \"Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness; he is gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous.\" Psa. 112:4

Slide 51: This is my comfort in my affliction: for thy word hath quickened me. I remembered thy judgements of old, O Lord; and have comforted myself. Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage. Unless thy law had been my delights, I should then have perished in mine affliction. Trouble and anguish have taken hold on me; yet thy commandments are my delights. Psa. 119:50

Slide 52: \"I know that the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and the right of the poor.\" Psa. 140:12

Slide 53: \"I know that the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and the right of the poor.\" Psa. 140:12

Slide 54: \"He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.\" Isa. 40:1

Slide 55: \"Fear thou not; for I am with thee; be not dismayed for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.\" Isa. 41:10

Slide 56: \"When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee: and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.\" Isa. 43:2

Slide 57: \"And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday\" Isa. 58:10

Slide 58: \"Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance both young men and old together: for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow. For I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul.\" Jer. 31:13

Slide 59: \"For the Lord will not cast off for ever: But though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies. For he doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men. Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee: thou saidst, Fear not.\" Lam. 3:31

Slide 60: [God] \"Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her. And I will give her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.\" Hos.2:14

Slide 61: \"The Lord is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him.\" Nah. 1:7

Slide 62: \"Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your father. But the very hairs of your heard are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.\" Luke 12:6

Slide 63: \"For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities: but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.\" Heb. 6:18

Slide 64: \"And we know that all things work together for the good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long: we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerers through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to seperate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.\" Rom. 8:28

Slide 65: \"For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.\" Rom. 15:4

Slide 66: \"We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory\" 2 Cor 4:8

Slide 67: \"If we suffer we shall also reign with him\" in another version “If we stick it out with him, we'll rule with him.” 2 Tim. 2:12

Slide 68: \"But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangal, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with those words.\" 1 Thess. 4:13

Slide 69: \"Christ brings the heart to heaven first - and then He brings the person.\" Unknown

Slide 70: \"Blessed are ye that weep now, for ye shall laugh.\" Luke 6:21

Slide 71: \"Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning\" Psa. 30:5