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Oct 13, 2024

Finding Purpose in Suffering

Finding Purpose in Suffering

Passage: 2 Corinthians 1:1-19

Speaker: Chip Jones

Series: General Topic

Keywords: love, compassion, mercy, comfort, empathy

As we look for hope and strength after the storm, Paul reminds us that as we are comforted through Christ in the midst of suffering, we can then be compelled to reach out to others with the same gracious comfort we’ve been given.

 

CENTRAL TEXT: 2 Corinthians 1:1-9

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the church of God in Corinth, together with all his holy people throughout Achaia: 2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 5 For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. 6 If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. 7 And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort. 8 We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. 9 Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.

 

PRE SERVICE TEXT: 2 Corinthians 1:3-5

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 5 For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.

 

PREPARATION:  Isaiah 63:7,9 & Psalm 89:1-2 

LEADER: 7 I will recount the steadfast love of the Lord, the praises of the Lord, according to all that the Lord has granted us, and the great goodness to the house of Israel that he has granted them according to his compassion, according to the abundance of his steadfast love. 

ALL: In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them; in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.

LEADER: I will sing of the Lord’s great love forever; with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known through all generations. 

ALL:  I will declare that your love stands firm forever, that you have established your faithfulness in heaven itself.


PRAYER: Grace In Trials (from The Valley of Vision)

ALL: O Father of Mercies, and Giver of all graces. We look to you for strength for it can be hard to practice what we believe

LEADER: Give us assurance that in Christ we died and in Him we rise

ALL: In His life we live, through His sufferings we are healed and His victory we triumph

LEADER: May Your Spirit continually preserve and increase Your good works in us, walking humbly in dependence upon You.

ALL: Your death is our life. Your resurrection our peace. Your ascension our hope and Your prayers our comfort. 

 

GREETING OF THE PEACE: 

LEADER: Because of the gospel and as a reminder that we have been reconciled together as one body, “May the peace of Christ be with you.”

ALL: And also with you.

LEADER: Greet one another in Christ.

 

BENEDICTION & DISMISSAL: 1 John 3:16,18

LEADER: 16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. 

ALL: 18 Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

LEADER: Let us go forth to serve the world as those who love our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

ALL: Thanks be to God!

 

POST SERVICE:  2 Corinthians 1:3-5

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 5 For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.

 

RELATED SCRIPTURES: 

 

  • Philippians 3:7-10 - 7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
  • Romans 8:18-25 - 18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
  • 1 John 3:16-18 - 16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. 17 If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? 18 Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

 

 

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