Ephesians Week 8 - I Am Afflicted

3. I AM AFFLICTED

4. EPHESIANS 3:1-13
1 For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner
for Christ Jesus on behalf of you
Gentiles-- 2 assuming that you have
heard of the stewardship of God's
grace that was given to me for you, 3
how the mystery was made known to
me by revelation, as I have written
briefly.

5. EPHESIANS 3:1-13
4 When you read this, you can
perceive my insight into the mystery
of Christ, 5 which was not made
known to the sons of men in other
generations as it has now been
revealed to His holy apostles and
prophets by the Spirit.

6. EPHESIANS 3:1-13
6 This mystery is that the Gentiles are
fellow heirs, members of the same
body, and partakers of the promise in
Christ Jesus through the gospel. 7 Of
this gospel I was made a minister
according to the gift of God's grace,
which was given me by the working of
His power.

7. EPHESIANS 3:1-13
8 To me, though I am the very least of
all the saints, this grace was given, to
preach to the Gentiles the
unsearchable riches of Christ, 9 and
to bring to light for everyone what is
the plan of the mystery hidden for
ages in God who created all things,

8. EPHESIANS 3:1-13
10 so that through the church the
manifold wisdom of God might now be
made known to the rulers and
authorities in the heavenly places. 11
This was according to the eternal
purpose that He has realized in Christ
Jesus our Lord,

9. EPHESIANS 3:1-13
12 in whom we have boldness and
access with confidence through our
faith in Him. 13 So I ask you not to
lose heart over what I am suffering for
you, which is your glory.

10. TWO THINGS THAT
HAPPEN TO YOU AND
ME:

11. 1. We will cause other
people to be afflicted.

12. 2. Other people will
cause us to be afflicted.

13. EPHESIANS 3:1
1 For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner
for Christ Jesus on behalf of you
Gentiles--

14. EPHESIANS 3:13
13 So I ask you not to lose heart over
what I am suffering for you, which is
your glory.

15. The Bible, is filled with affliction.
Laments fill up a third of the
Psalms, there are 150 Psalms;
one-third of them are laments.

16. The Bible is very honest that
suffering is real and it comes to
God’s people.

17. FOURTEEN KINDS OF
SUFFERING:

18. How are you afflicted?
Where is life hard right now?
It’s painful, it’s difficult,
it’s a season of trial.

19. What categories of suffering are
others experiencing that you know?
Family, friends, neighbors,
co-workers — what can you learn
and how could you help them?

20. 1. ADAMIC
AFFLICTION

21. 2. PUNISHMENT
AFFLICTION

22. 3. CONSEQUENTIAL
AFFLICTION

23. 4. DEMONIC
AFFLICTION

24. 5. VICTIM
AFFLICTION

25. 6. COLLECTIVE
AFFLICTION

26. 7. DISCIPLINARY
AFFLICTION

27. 8. VICARIOUS
AFFLICTION

28. 9. EMPATHETIC
AFFLICTION

29. 10. TESTIMONIAL
AFFLICTION

30. 11. PROVIDENTIAL
AFFLICTION

31. 12. PREVENTATIVE
AFFLICTION

32. 13. MYSTERIOUS
AFFLICTION

33. 14. APOCALYPTIC
AFFLICTION

34. “I want you to understand your
suffering so that you can
understand how to, in the grace of
God, endure it. I want you to
understand suffering so that as you
comfort and counsel others, you can
provide a right diagnosis for
whatever suffering they are
enduring.”

35. NOT “WHY”,
BUT “WHO”

36. Three things that
Paul wants to teach
us in our affliction
and suffering:

37. 1. We are afflicted for
others’ good.

38. EPHESIANS 3:1
1 For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner
for Christ Jesus on behalf of you
Gentiles--

39. Paul is saying, “I’m in jail because I
want people to come to know about
Jesus and that my suffering is an
opportunity for me to testify about
Him.”

40. Affliction is an opportunity to
testify about Jesus.

41. Paul’s affliction could be afflicted
for others’ good. It could help other
people. It could serve other people.
It could introduce other people to
Jesus.

42. How can you use your affliction to
help others come to know Jesus?
How could you use your affliction to
help others come to know or grow in
Jesus?

43. Your suffering could be meaningful,
valuable, and purposeful to others.

44. What have you been through?
What are you going through?

45. What is God teaching you?
How could your suffering be the
beginning of your ministry?

46. Our God has chosen to enter in and
experience affliction, suffering, pain,
poverty, rejection, and death.

47. And the good news is that He has
been where we are. He has been
through where we are going. He has
conquered death, sin, hell, and the
wrath of God.

48. He’s alive to help and as He helps
others, He sends them to us that
they might be of help to us.
As we learn and grow, we can be of
help to others.

49. 2. Afflicted for your
growth

50. Paul is suffering. He is ministering,
but he is also maturing.

51. “My ministry is by the grace of God.”

52. Paul says, “Everything I do is by the
working of His power.”
The churches that get planted, the
Scriptures that get written, the lives
that get changed, the people that get
saved – it’s all by God’s power.
Anything that happens is by
God’s power.

53. How could your affliction help
you to grow spiritually?

54. God could actually use the hardest
parts of our life to be the sweetest
parts of our life; to use the most painful
parts of our story to be the most
encouraging parts of our story for
someone else.

55. 3. Afflicted for God’s
glory

56. EPHESIANS 3:10-13
10 so that through the church the
manifold wisdom of God might now be
made known to the rulers and
authorities in the heavenly places. 11
This was according to the eternal
purpose that He has realized in Christ
Jesus our Lord,

57. EPHESIANS 3:10-13
12 in whom we have boldness and
access with confidence through our
faith in Him. 13 So I ask you not to
lose heart over what I am suffering for
you, which is your glory.

58. That as we’re suffering,
we need to remember that
many are watching.

59. BE HONEST.
I encourage you to be honest.
Talking about it helps.
Sometimes comfort is better than an
answer.