Sunday Message Summary, 23 April 2023
Hebrews 12 was written as an encouragement to the Jewish believers who were going through the most at the time. The writer was reminding them that all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution (2 Timothy 3:12 NKJV). Our struggles as believers manifest in flesh and blood, but the enemy is the one who instigates trouble against us. Nevertheless, when we are going through things we don’t understand, we ought to seize the opportunity to draw closer to GOD. Naturally we don’t get closer to the LORD in comfort. Therefore, pain has a miraculous message. It is pain mostly that causes us to seek GOD, to draw closer to Him, and to question the meaning of life.
In discomfort, we should seize the opportunity to move on to perfection (Hebrews 6:1-3 NKJV). Discomfort is not the time to bury our heads in the sand and go with the flow, but it is the time to draw closer and seek GOD more, not throwing our hands in the air in despair and resignation. We are the salt of the earth (Matthew 5:13 NKJV), and salt does not conform but it changes the environment. When David was greatly distressed, he did not resign himself to the situation and failure, but it was when he encouraged himself in the LORD that he became victorious (1 Samuel 30:6 KJV). The LORD has promised that He will never leave us orphans (John 14:18 NKJV), and so long as GOD is with us and we are with Him, He leads us from place to place in one perpetual victory parade (2 Corinthians 2:14-16 MSG). Trouble shall come, but trouble shall not touch us, because being in Christ is the safest place to be (Psalm 91:9-10 NKJV).
When things are hard, we should not sell out because there is regret in leaving the way of GOD and pursuing the things of the world. Despite the difficulties we face, we must not forget what matters, which is our faith, sonship, purpose, and eternal destiny. Our purpose courts suffering, pain, and discomfort but the Cross is a symbol of eternal victory. We must therefore always view any suffering in light of the bigger picture. Nothing we go through here on Earth compares to where we are going to (Romans 8:17-18 NIV). There is a beyond. Nothing we go through in this life is worthy to be compared to the glory which shall be revealed in us (Romans 8:18 KJV). There is no glory without suffering and no suffering without glory. According to Scripture, nothing as children of GOD is working against us, but our sufferings are working for us (2 Corinthians 4:17 NKJV). We should therefore form an attitude of not going by the pain we feel which is temporary, but instead going by the things that are not seen which are eternal (2 Corinthians 4:18 NKJV).
When we come of age in the spirit, we see things with a spiritual eye. Our spiritual eyes open when we encounter Jesus, and when we see, we endure. The secret is in seeing Him who is invisible. We are called to see Jesus and follow those who lead us to the invisible (Hebrews 12:1-2 KJV). Even Jesus Himself saw something in the invisible that caused Him to endure the Cross. Jesus overlooked His present circumstances, so we have to look past our own situations. We must choose to overlook. For as long as we are looking to our situations, nothing will change. We must look up because when we look up, Jesus will come down. To finish strong and victoriously we must see Him who is invisible.
There is no glory without suffering and no suffering without glory.
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