Finding Hope and Redemption in Suffering
Devotional
Sermon Summary
Sermon Clips
"We also glory in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, perseverance, character, and character, hope. Now look, suffering may be many things, but glorious? The indwelling power of the Holy Spirit, both in the story of Scripture and in the life of the believer means holding the tension of the wonder of the miraculous and the tragedy of suffering together." [00:03:42] (25 seconds)
"God's elation at creation in Genesis 1 is marked by God's or is matched by God's grief at that very creation in Genesis 6. How does God feel about suffering? He is grieved by it. Suffering grieves God's heart more than it grieves mine or yours. No wonder then that as the biblical story unfolds, God's presence and power seems to be especially focused on those who most obviously suffer, the poor, the oppressed and the marginalized." [00:10:25] (30 seconds)
"Jesus is set apart from every other form of divinity in that he alone is the God who suffers. He deals with suffering by suffering, makes his way through suffering by suffering, and looks you in the eye in the midst of your suffering by suffering. Jesus is winning a decisive victory, but he's doing it by bearing the cost of the curse. He's enduring the real-life experience of a sin-infected creation." [00:13:35] (24 seconds)
"The best-kept secret about spiritual formation is that it's got every bit as much to do with how you submit to God's transformative power in the circumstances you would never choose, as it does with the habits and practices that you do choose." [00:07:02] (16 seconds)
"Proper stewardship of the suffering that we do not choose but will come and find us this side of heaven is to connect my suffering to Jesus's suffering. It's to allow my diagnosis, my grief, my loneliness, or my trauma to connect me to Jesus's cross. And that brings us finally to the redemption of my suffering. Or the power of the Holy Spirit in my suffering." [00:20:09] (22 seconds)
"Romans continues, hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. This verse is so often quoted on its own in isolation. The Spirit's power meets us with the experiential love of God. But it's worth remembering that when Paul wrote this, he framed that Spirit-empowered experience of God's love right in the midst of our weakness and suffering." [00:25:20] (27 seconds)
"Look, suffering is never welcome. It's always and only an intruder. But once it's kicked our door down, it does offer us a good invitation to see through eyes of compassion and share the glory of Christ by entering into the suffering of others more deeply. Whether we like it or not, you and I will share in this world's sufferings." [00:28:16] (20 seconds)
"Times of comfort lead us into distraction to a place where we gradually put our greatest treasures on the back burner, but suffering when it's endured thoughtfully can accurately weigh life's priorities and instill gratitude for the things that truly matter and truly satisfy." [00:30:02] (18 seconds)
"Those filled with the Holy Spirit are pregnant with this world's renewal. And that means that even the suffering that we experience in this world, the groaning as in the pains of childbirth, it points to a promise of new life, to a world that is coming without suffering, where God's going to wipe away every tear, shelter us in his love, and redeem all of our pain." [00:31:10] (22 seconds)
"God doesn't only promise that in the end, suffering won't win. He promises that every bit of suffering you and I endure on the way there will be woven by the great storyteller into the tapestry of redemption. That every heartbreak, every loneliness, every abandonment, every trial, every tragedy will be redeemed and made into a creative force through which redemption comes." [00:46:31] (25 seconds)
"Because of Jesus's scars, all of my suffering and yours becomes a scar. Hurt, healed, pain whose sting is gone, tears that have been wiped away, bleeding that stopped. Because of Jesus, all pain is redeemed, provided, of course, that I, like a little boy in the neighbor's backyard, respond to him in kind." [00:42:17] (21 seconds)
"And given the choice, most of us would trade back all the gain that we have from suffering just for the removal of our pain, just for the joy of the child that I didn't get to watch grow up or the, for one more day with the loved one that I still grieve or for life without this diagnosis or that accident or this injury. And that's why the biblical story doesn't just promise to dignify our suffering in the present, but it promises to defeat our suffering in the future." [00:45:01] (28 seconds)
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"God's elation at creation in Genesis 1 is marked by God's or is matched by God's grief at that very creation in Genesis 6. How does God feel about suffering? He is grieved by it. Suffering grieves God's heart more than it grieves mine or yours. No wonder then that as the biblical story unfolds, God's presence and power seems to be especially focused on those who most obviously suffer, the poor, the oppressed and the marginalized." [00:10:25] (30 seconds)
"Jesus is set apart from every other form of divinity in that he alone is the God who suffers. He deals with suffering by suffering, makes his way through suffering by suffering, and looks you in the eye in the midst of your suffering by suffering. Jesus is winning a decisive victory, but he's doing it by bearing the cost of the curse. He's enduring the real-life experience of a sin-infected creation." [00:13:35] (24 seconds)
"The best-kept secret about spiritual formation is that it's got every bit as much to do with how you submit to God's transformative power in the circumstances you would never choose, as it does with the habits and practices that you do choose." [00:07:02] (16 seconds)
"Proper stewardship of the suffering that we do not choose but will come and find us this side of heaven is to connect my suffering to Jesus's suffering. It's to allow my diagnosis, my grief, my loneliness, or my trauma to connect me to Jesus's cross. And that brings us finally to the redemption of my suffering. Or the power of the Holy Spirit in my suffering." [00:20:09] (22 seconds)
"Romans continues, hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. This verse is so often quoted on its own in isolation. The Spirit's power meets us with the experiential love of God. But it's worth remembering that when Paul wrote this, he framed that Spirit-empowered experience of God's love right in the midst of our weakness and suffering." [00:25:20] (27 seconds)
"Look, suffering is never welcome. It's always and only an intruder. But once it's kicked our door down, it does offer us a good invitation to see through eyes of compassion and share the glory of Christ by entering into the suffering of others more deeply. Whether we like it or not, you and I will share in this world's sufferings." [00:28:16] (20 seconds)
"Times of comfort lead us into distraction to a place where we gradually put our greatest treasures on the back burner, but suffering when it's endured thoughtfully can accurately weigh life's priorities and instill gratitude for the things that truly matter and truly satisfy." [00:30:02] (18 seconds)
"Those filled with the Holy Spirit are pregnant with this world's renewal. And that means that even the suffering that we experience in this world, the groaning as in the pains of childbirth, it points to a promise of new life, to a world that is coming without suffering, where God's going to wipe away every tear, shelter us in his love, and redeem all of our pain." [00:31:10] (22 seconds)
"God doesn't only promise that in the end, suffering won't win. He promises that every bit of suffering you and I endure on the way there will be woven by the great storyteller into the tapestry of redemption. That every heartbreak, every loneliness, every abandonment, every trial, every tragedy will be redeemed and made into a creative force through which redemption comes." [00:46:31] (25 seconds)
"Because of Jesus's scars, all of my suffering and yours becomes a scar. Hurt, healed, pain whose sting is gone, tears that have been wiped away, bleeding that stopped. Because of Jesus, all pain is redeemed, provided, of course, that I, like a little boy in the neighbor's backyard, respond to him in kind." [00:42:17] (21 seconds)
"And given the choice, most of us would trade back all the gain that we have from suffering just for the removal of our pain, just for the joy of the child that I didn't get to watch grow up or the, for one more day with the loved one that I still grieve or for life without this diagnosis or that accident or this injury. And that's why the biblical story doesn't just promise to dignify our suffering in the present, but it promises to defeat our suffering in the future." [00:45:01] (28 seconds)
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