success and the glory of my appreciation, approval and the glory of my possessions and whatever you would fill in there. I love this passage. This is 2 Corinthians 4 beginning with verse seven. This passage has been a huge and faithful friend to me. But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. Let me stop there. Treasure in jars of clay, guess who the jars of clay are? That's us. In case you hadn't figured that out, that's not a compliment, because a clay jar is weak and delicate. You drop it, it's going to shatter. It's a picture of weakness. We have this treasure in jars of clay to show that the all surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. Your weakness, your limits of strength, wisdom, righteousness is not an accident. It's not a divine mistake. It's a divine intention so that you would not mistakenly think it's all about you. You could argue that every night the fact that you have to go to sleep is a definite proof that you're not God. Because the Psalm says he never slumbers nor sleeps. Your weakness doesn't get in the way of the gospel. Your weakness doesn't contradict the gospel. Your weakness preaches the gospel. We need as a church to quit promoting big personality, self-sufficient people. We have been cursed with so many of those leaders, and it never goes anywhere good. I want to be preached to by a weak man. Not weak in faith, but who is not promoting himself but promoting his God. That's what this passage is about. If you're leading a small group, if you're preaching or teaching, be transparent. Because if you're not, people instead of wanting to know your God, they'll want to be you. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed. Perplexed, but not driven to despair. Persecuted, but not forsaken. Struck down, but not destroyed. Always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, now watch this, so that, so that means a purpose, for this purpose that the life of Jesus may be manifest in our bodies. Weakness is not in the way of God's plan. It is the plan so that we would be living demonstrations of the presence and glory of God. It's actually saying we're just a bunch of crackpots. That's exactly what it's saying. And through those cracks, guess what's seen? The all-surpassing power of God himself. Yes, Paul Tripp called you a crackpot, but God designed it that way so people would look at you and see the Redeemer. The last reason you will suffer is because of your faith. In 1 Peter 4, Peter says, as a good pastor, why are you surprised as if something strange was happening to you? Don't you know you're an alien and an exile? You're living for a different kingdom than the people around you. And because of that, you're going to be misunderstood. You're going to be misinterpreted, and you're going to be mistreated. Listen, we are in a generation we better understand what's coming, where you may be a believer and you don't get into university because you won't endorse things that that university endorses. You won't get a promotion at your job. You'll have neighbors that will turn their back on you. You may even have loved ones who walk away from you because of your faith, because of the moral stands that God calls you to. You see, the Bible is very specific and very clear about suffering. God doesn't hide it. He's not embarrassed to talk about it. He doesn't talk about it in whisper tones. It's everywhere. Why? So that we would be prepared. It's the grace of preparation. Because if you're unprepared, you will bring all the wrong things to your suffering. And what often is sacrificed in a person's suffering, you ready for this, is their faith. And they begin to say, "I don't know if I can read my Bible, and I don't even know if I can go to church, and I surely can't be with my small group." And it's just a beginning to wander away. God who loves you has given you his word so that you will be prepared. Now, God's sovereign and we're not, and that means I don't know what's around the corner. I don't know. A day can change, a life can change in just one phone call, one visit to the doctor, one incident with another person, and it all changes. And God is not going to unfold his secret will to you. In case you hadn't put this together, his secret will is called his secret will because it's secret. I want to be honest about my experience. If I had known what I was going to face that day and the change in my life, I would've lost my mind. It was love that God didn't tell me what was happening. So you don't know and you can't figure out the future.
Transcript: Session 2
GOSPEL HOPE
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