Transformative Power of Suffering in God's Mission

Devotional

Day 1: The Unfathomable Workings of God's Providence

God's providence is a profound mystery that transcends human understanding. It is through His divine orchestration that ordinary people are transformed into missionaries and world Christians. This transformation often involves various influences, including suffering, which are not mere coincidences but are intricately woven into God's plan. Over time, these influences shape individuals to become God-exalting lovers of Jesus, participating in His mission to bring the nations to hallow His name. This mysterious providence is a testament to God's sovereignty and His ability to use all circumstances for His glory. [02:45]

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." (Isaiah 55:8-9, ESV)

Reflection: Consider a recent situation in your life that seemed coincidental or challenging. How might God be using this situation to shape you into a world Christian?

Day 2: Suffering as a Catalyst for Proclamation

Suffering is often perceived as a negative experience, yet it can be a divine tool used by God to redirect lives and create proclaimers of His Word. Personal testimonies and biblical accounts, such as Stephen's martyrdom, illustrate how adversity can lead to the spread of the gospel. Through suffering, God places His people where He wants them for His purposes, using their experiences to further His kingdom. This perspective on suffering challenges believers to view their trials as opportunities for growth and proclamation. [09:21]

"Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness." (James 1:2-3, ESV)

Reflection: Reflect on a time when you faced suffering or adversity. How did it change your perspective or direction in life, and how might God be calling you to use that experience to proclaim His Word?

Day 3: The Heart of the Lord's Prayer

The petition "Hallowed be your name" in the Lord's Prayer is not just one of many requests but the central petition that calls for a heart response to revere and treasure God's holiness. It is the ultimate purpose of the universe and our lives, emphasizing that everything, from our daily sustenance to our deliverance from evil, is ultimately for the hallowing of God's name. This petition invites believers to align their hearts with God's ultimate purpose, making His name revered and treasured among the nations. [16:18]

"Let them praise your great and awesome name! Holy is he!" (Psalm 99:3, ESV)

Reflection: In what ways can you intentionally hallow God's name in your daily life, ensuring that His holiness is revered and treasured in your heart and actions?

Day 4: The Structure and Purpose of the Lord's Prayer

The Lord's Prayer is structured with one ultimate petition and five supporting ones. The first petition, focused on God's name, is the main goal, while the others serve as means to achieve this end. This structure highlights the importance of prioritizing the hallowing of God's name in our prayers and lives. By understanding this structure, believers can align their prayers and actions with God's ultimate purpose, ensuring that every aspect of their lives contributes to the reverence of His name. [25:17]

"Pray then like this: 'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.'" (Matthew 6:9-10, ESV)

Reflection: How can you restructure your prayer life to prioritize the hallowing of God's name, ensuring that all other requests serve this ultimate purpose?

Day 5: The Ultimate Purpose of Life and History

The hallowing of God's name is the ultimate purpose of creation, redemption, and history. It is the end for which we exist, and aligning our lives with this purpose brings us into God's grand narrative. By making the hallowing of God's name the central aim of our lives, we become instruments for His glory, participating in His mission to bring the nations to revere His name. This perspective invites believers to view their lives, sufferings, and callings through the lens of God's ultimate purpose. [29:56]

"For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen." (Romans 11:36, ESV)

Reflection: What specific steps can you take today to align your life with the ultimate purpose of hallowing God's name, ensuring that your actions and decisions contribute to His glory?

Sermon Summary

In this message, I emphasize the profound mystery of how God uses various influences, including suffering, to transform ordinary people into lifelong missionaries and God-exalting lovers of Jesus. The pandemic, the Cross Conference, and countless other divine influences are not mere coincidences but are intricately woven into God's providential plan to shape us into world Christians. This transformation is a mystery beyond human explanation, yet it is a reality I have witnessed over decades of ministry.

I reflect on my personal journey, where a period of suffering redirected my life from a pre-med path to a passion for knowing and proclaiming the Bible. This personal testimony illustrates how God uses suffering as a means to create proclaimers of His Word. The biblical account of Stephen's martyrdom and the subsequent scattering of believers further exemplifies how God uses adversity to spread the gospel.

Central to this message is the Lord's Prayer, particularly the petition "Hallowed be your name." This is not merely an acclamation but a profound request for God to cause His name to be revered and treasured in our hearts and among the nations. It is the ultimate purpose of the universe and the primary aim of our lives. The other petitions in the Lord's Prayer serve this main goal, emphasizing that everything, from our daily sustenance to our deliverance from evil, is ultimately for the hallowing of God's name.

I urge you to make the hallowing of God's name the central aim of your life. As we align ourselves with this purpose, we become instruments for God's glory, participating in His mission to bring the nations to hallow His name. This is the ultimate end for which we exist, and it is through this lens that we should view our lives, our sufferings, and our callings.

Key Takeaways

1. The Mystery of God's Providence: God's ways are beyond our understanding, yet He uses various influences, including suffering, to transform ordinary people into missionaries and world Christians. This transformation is a testament to His mysterious providence. [02:45]
2. Suffering as a Divine Tool: Personal experiences and biblical accounts reveal that God often uses suffering to redirect our lives and create proclaimers of His Word. This is a means by which He places His people where He wants them for His purposes. [09:21]
3. The Central Petition of the Lord's Prayer: "Hallowed be your name" is not just one of many requests but the primary petition that calls for a heart response to revere and treasure God's holiness. It is the ultimate purpose of the universe and our lives. [16:18]
4. The Structure of the Lord's Prayer: The prayer is structured with one ultimate petition and five supporting ones. The first petition, focused on God's name, is the main goal, while the others serve as means to achieve this end. [25:17]
5. The Ultimate Purpose of Life and History: The hallowing of God's name is the ultimate purpose of creation, redemption, and history. It is the end for which we exist, and aligning our lives with this purpose brings us into God's grand narrative. [29:56]
** [29:56]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[00:16] - Divine Influences and Missionary Calling
[01:19] - The Mystery of God's Providence
[02:08] - Unexpected Paths and God's Plan
[03:06] - Suffering as a Divine Tool
[05:19] - Personal Testimony of Transformation
[07:08] - Biblical Example: Stephen's Martyrdom
[09:21] - Suffering and the Spread of the Gospel
[10:09] - Introduction to the Lord's Prayer
[12:26] - Understanding the Petitions
[16:18] - The Central Petition: Hallowed Be Your Name
[20:03] - The Meaning of Holiness
[23:19] - The Heart's Response to God's Holiness
[25:17] - The Structure of the Lord's Prayer
[29:56] - The Ultimate Purpose of Life and History
[35:24] - Jesus' Example and Our Calling
[37:56] - Closing Prayer

Bible Study Guide

Bible Study Discussion Guide

Bible Reading:

Acts 7:59-8:4
Matthew 6:9-13 (The Lord's Prayer)
John 12:27-28

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Observation Questions:

In Acts 7:59-8:4, what was the immediate result of Stephen's martyrdom, and how did it contribute to the spread of the gospel? [08:04]
According to the sermon, how does the speaker describe the role of suffering in God's providential plan? [09:21]
What is the central petition of the Lord's Prayer, and how does it differ from the other petitions? [16:18]
How does the speaker connect the pandemic and the Cross Conference to God's mysterious providence? [00:35]

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Interpretation Questions:

How does the scattering of believers after Stephen's martyrdom illustrate the concept of suffering as a divine tool for spreading the gospel? [08:04]
In what ways does the speaker suggest that personal suffering can redirect one's life towards God's purposes? Reflect on the speaker's personal testimony. [05:19]
Why does the speaker emphasize "Hallowed be your name" as the primary petition in the Lord's Prayer, and what implications does this have for understanding the purpose of prayer? [16:18]
How does the speaker's interpretation of the Lord's Prayer challenge traditional views of its petitions as mere acclamations? [12:26]

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Application Questions:

Reflect on a time when you experienced suffering or adversity. How might God have used that experience to shape your faith or redirect your path? [05:19]
The speaker urges us to make the hallowing of God's name the central aim of our lives. What practical steps can you take this week to align your daily actions with this purpose? [29:56]
Consider the speaker's view that suffering can be a tool for God's purposes. How can you change your perspective on current challenges in your life to see them as opportunities for growth and mission? [09:21]
How can you incorporate the central petition of the Lord's Prayer, "Hallowed be your name," into your daily prayer life? What changes might this bring to your spiritual focus? [16:18]
The speaker mentions the pandemic as a divine influence. How has the pandemic affected your spiritual journey, and how can you use this experience to further God's mission? [00:35]
Identify one area of your life where you struggle to revere and treasure God's holiness. What specific actions can you take to address this struggle? [20:03]
How can you become an instrument for God's glory in your community, participating in His mission to bring the nations to hallow His name? What is one tangible step you can take this week? [29:56]

Sermon Clips

I am praying that this pandemic would not be wasted in your life but that you would mingle it with the cross conference and with ten thousand other divine influences in your life so that the pandemic and the cross conference and ten thousand divine influences would mingle in the mysterious working of God to make hundreds of you into lifelong missionaries and all of you into God-exalting lovers of Jesus who are world Christians. [00:00:16]

I know from personal experience and from the Bible that God uses suffering to create proclaimers of the word of God. In the summer of 1966, I was 20 years old and just a junior in college and the Lord totally shut down the river of my life, confident towards pre-med, and flattened me on my back for three weeks in the hospital, and there that dream died, and another dream was born. [00:05:19]

God creates proclaimers of the word through suffering. He does that. That's one of the means that he uses. Listen to the book of Acts. This is chapter 7, verse 59. As they were stoning Stephen, he called out, Lord Jesus received my spirit, and falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, Lord do not hold this sin against them. [00:07:08]

Jesus had told them in Acts 1:8, leave Jerusalem and go to Judea, leave Jerusalem and go to Samaria, leave Jerusalem and go to the ends of the earth, and they hadn't gone, so he dislodges them from Jerusalem with the death of Stephen and with a great persecution. That's how he does it if he has to do it, hence a pandemic. [00:08:29]

The point that I'm going to make, the main point that I'm going to draw out from hallowed be your name, I had never seen until 2010, which was a very hard year in our family. You don't need to know the details but you ought to be encouraged that one of the gifts that God has for his people through suffering is to show them things in the Bible about himself that they had never seen. [00:11:20]

Hallowed be your name is an explicit request that a kind of heart response would happen in me and among the nations in the hearts of people everywhere, namely the response of hallowing. Hallowed be your name. Hallowing is an act of the human heart. None of the other six or other five petitions explicitly ask God to produce an effect, an act in the human heart. [00:16:18]

The holiness of God is his utterly unique, infinitely pure and valuable transcendent godness. To be God is to be holy, to be God is to be transcendent, to be God is to be infinitely pure, to be God is to be utterly unique. So his holiness is his utterly unique, infinitely pure godness. [00:21:05]

There is one ultimate goal in this prayer, and there's one ultimate goal in history, one ultimate goal in creation and redemption and consummation. They are all means. There is one ultimate end. We are delivered from evil for the hallowing of God's name. We are forgiven our sins for the hallowing of God's name. [00:29:56]

In eternity, we will hallow the name of God not as a means to anything. Hallowing the name of God is not a means to a greater end. There is no greater end for the human heart. The hallowing of God's name is the end for which the prayer exists, and you exist. Missions exist because the hallowing of God's name doesn't. [00:31:28]

When Jesus came to his final hour and he knew that he was about to die, then rise again, ascend to the Father, pour out the Spirit and unleash a global tidal wave of salvation, do you remember how in that final hour he strengthened himself and brought his whole soul into alignment with the ultimate goal of God? [00:32:21]

Jesus pursued the personal and global hallowing of God's name through suffering and death. That was the hour. Should I say save me from this hour? No, I came to this hour of suffering and death so glorify your name. That's why I'm here, Father, your name hallowed in the lives of millions of people. [00:35:24]

There is one ultimate purpose in the Lord's Prayer and one ultimate purpose in history, one ultimate purpose in the endless stretches of eternity, namely the hallowing of God's name, the magnifying, treasuring, loving of God's name, God's beauty, God's worth, God's greatness, God's holiness. So make that the aim of your life. [00:36:32]

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Transformative Power of Suffering in God's Mission

Devotional

Day 1: The Unfathomable Workings of God's Providence

Day 2: Suffering as a Catalyst for Proclamation

Day 3: The Heart of the Lord's Prayer

Day 4: The Structure and Purpose of the Lord's Prayer

Day 5: The Ultimate Purpose of Life and History

Sermon Summary

Key Takeaways

Youtube Chapters

Bible Study Guide

Sermon Clips

Chatbot

Transformative Power of Suffering in God's Mission

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