ROM-154-151213 - length: 70:48 - taught on Dec, 13 2015
Class Outline:
Welcome To
BARAH MINISTRIES
a Christian Church
Rory Clark
Pastor-Teacher
Good Morning!
Welcome to Barah Ministries…a worldwide Christian Church based in Mesa, AZ…my name is Pastor Rory Clark. Let’s begin the lesson with a few announcements…
BARAH MINISTRIES ANNOUNCEMENTS
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Ryan Saloum
December 14, 2015
18th Birthday
PRAYERS
Monica Miller
Shoulder Surgery
Prayers for all those who have requested them on the Barah Ministries Prayer Request Group
PRAYERS
Rosemary LoGrasso
Battling with Cancer
Not tolerating chemo very well…pray for an alternative and relief from the
suffering associated with cancer. Also prayers for Tony and his family.
MARK YOUR CALENDARS!
Visit the Vets
December 20, 2015
1:45PM MST
MARK YOUR CALENDARS!
EVENING SERVICE
NEW TIME!
December 20, 2015
4:30PM-6:00PM MST
Note the time change…
MARK YOUR CALENDARS!
No Face-to-Face Teaching
December 27, 2015
MARK YOUR CALENDARS!
No Face-to-Face Teaching
January 10, 2016
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LESSON INTRODUCTION
Suffering is a Privilege for the Believer in Christ
John the Baptist suffered an imprisonment when the Lord Jesus Christ was beginning His teaching ministry. It is hardly what John the Baptist had envisioned as the evangelist who would preach, “Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord.” Yet John made the mistake of telling Herod that it was not lawful for him to have his wife Herodious because she was his brother’s wife (detailed in Matthew 14:1-4).
The imprisonment caused John the Baptist quite a bit of concern, so he wanted to be sure that Jesus was indeed the Messiah…Matthew, Chapter 11, Verses 1 to 15…
When Jesus had finished giving instructions to His twelve disciples, He departed from there to teach and preach in their cities.
Now when John the Baptist, while imprisoned, heard of the works of Christ, he sent word by his disciples…
…and said to Jesus, “Are You the Expected One (the Messiah), or shall we look for someone else?”
Jesus answered and said to John’s disciples, “Go and report to John what you hear and see…”
“…the blind receive sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.”
John the Baptist would recognize that Jesus is indeed the Messiah by the things that the prophet Isaiah had said of Him in Old Testament Scripture.
“And blessed is he who does not take offense at Me.”
Jesus was also called the Stone of Stumbling and the Rock of Offense in the Old Testament. So John the Baptist would recognize this as well. Next the Lord Jesus Christ presents the crowd with John the Baptist’s resume… assuring them of who John is, lest anyone should doubt…
As John’s disciples were going away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John, “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind (a vacillating weakling)?”
“But what did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing (no, the opposite)? Those who wear soft clothing are in kings’ palaces!”
“But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and one who is more than a prophet.”
“This (one…John) is the one about whom it is written, ‘Behold, I send My messenger ahead of You, who will prepare Your way before You.’”
“Truly I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist! Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”
“From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and violent men take it by force.”
“For all the prophets and the Law prophesied until John.”
“And if you are willing to accept it, John himself is Elijah who was to come.”
“He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
To the world, when we suffer, it is misinterpreted as weakness. To the believer in Christ, our weakness is our strength, and it is the perfect indication that the Lord has us securely in the palm of His hand.
MUSIC AND REFLECTION
Be Occupied with the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ
Enjoy the Singing of His Praises
HOLY IS THE LORD
Chris Tomlin
The opening song is HOLY IS THE LORDsung by Chris Tomlin.
OPENING PRAYER
Let us pray...
We’re grateful, Heavenly Father, for the privilege of studying Your absolute truth...the Word of God…
Father, thank you for giving us things we can’t handle…and thank you for making perfect provision for our escape from these trying circumstances when the time is right…when the lesson is learned…
Help us to recognize that giving us things we cannot handle is not
necessarily because You are punishing us for sin, as Your enemy would have us believe…rather…it is because you are strengthening us to endure… help us see Your hand in our lives in every moment…help us to enjoy the wonder of Your grace in its many forms…
We ask this through the power of God the Holy Spirit in Christ’s name... Amen.
TODAY’S STUDY
In God’s Plan Suffering Produces an Effect
James, Chapter 1, Verses 3 and 4…
Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials…
…knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.
And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
We’re studying the third passage of Romans, Chapter 8, which extends from Verse 18 to Verse 25…Romans…the foundational letter of biblical Christianity…let’s look at the passage and listen to it together, as the Word of God speaks to our souls…
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time (NOW) are not worthy to be compared with the glory (IN THE FUTURE) that is to be revealed to us.
For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.
For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope…
…that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.
And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.
For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees?
But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.
Two subjects are in view in this passage…SUFFERING and GLORY. One is happening to us now… SUFFERING…we groan…one will happen to us in the future…GLORY. One is temporary…SUFFERING…we wait eagerly…one is permanent for the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ… GLORY. One is visible now…SUFFERING…one will be visible in the future…it is not seen…GLORY. Second Corinthians, Chapter 4, Verse 17…
For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison…
I’m sure you’ll agree that when we are going through suffering, we feel it is anything BUT momentary and light…it feels prolonged and heavy…and we want it to end…we are impatient with it…but suffering in God’s plan produces an intended effect…and we are to patiently wait for the effect being produced by the Cause, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He is the Cause of things. He produces patience…and endurance…while the Spirit produces fruit.
The spiritual life is our unseen life. It promises much. And for the things we are promised, we hope…we persevere…because we know God always keeps His promises. When we suffer we are to keep our eyes on the eternal perspective of things. How are you suffering right now? What effect is God producing in you as a result of your suffering? These are the things we investigate as we begin to look at the subject of suffering.
God transforms us through suffering. We are undergoing a metamorphosis in the hands of God…a change of state…a state with no mixture of the old self and the new self. Second Corinthians, Chapter 3, Verses 17 and 18…
Now the Lord is God the Holy Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
But we all, now with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.
As believers in Christ, God is moving us from the glory of salvation to the glory of sanctification…from glory to glory…and the glory of sanctification is that believers in Christ, through the enabling power of the Lord who is the Spirit…God the Holy Spirit…the co-equal, co-infinite, co-eternal Deity, God the Holy Spirit…are being transformed by Him into those ones who are an exact reflection of Christ’s glory. The foolish Christian calls this transformation “Christ-likeness” … foolish because we are nothing like Christ. Yet the Lord considers us worthy enough to be a reflection of Him…and it is an absolute privilege to suffer in this life knowing that is producing for us an eternal glory, not a temporal glory.
Let’s take a music break.
MUSIC BREAK
GOD WITH US
Mercy Me
TODAY’S STUDY
In God’s Plan Suffering Produces an Effect
Let’s continue our study of the verse-by-verse detail of the third passage in Romans Chapter 8…beginning at Verses 18…
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time (NOW) are not worthy to be compared with the glory (IN THE FUTURE) that is to be revealed to us.
Christians have always suffered. The Jews of Abraham’s lineage suffered. First Century Christians suffered. The Apostle Paul suffered. We suffer. So we’d have to conclude that God has a purpose for our suffering. It produces an effect. The Lord suffered, and it certainly produces an effect…and He considered suffering to be joyful. His suffering was voluntary. Hebrews, Chapter 12, Verses 1 to 3…
Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of Old Testament witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us (buffeting us from all sides), and let us run with endurance the race (of our lives) that is set before us…
…fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the Cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God the Father.
For keep on thinking about the Lord Jesus Christ who has endured such hostility by sinners (unbelievers) against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart (fainting in your souls).
Because the master suffered, we suffer…we share in His sufferings. He endured hostility…we will, too. And God will deliver us from suffering to glory. Our suffering is in the present…Galatians, Chapter 1, Verses 3 to 5…
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ…
…the Lord who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father…
…to whom be the glory forevermore. Amen.
Our glory is in our future. Colossians, Chapter 3, Verses 1 to 4…
Therefore if you believers have been raised up with Christ, and you have, keep on seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.
For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in the care of God the Father.
When Christ, who IS our resurrection life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.
Our future is safe within Christ, and the magnificence of it will be revealed at a later time. So while God lets us suffer now, in justice our God will balance the scales…Second Thessalonians, Chapter 1, Verses 6 to 10…
For after all it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you…
…and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire…
…dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power…
…when He comes to be glorified in His saints on that day, and to be marveled at among all who have believed—for our testimony to you was believed.
I don’t know about you…but personally, I will take no glory in seeing the retribution of the Lord being handed out to those who reject Him. I have realized for years that God does not give us what we deserve. Can I get an Amen? I do not want the evil to suffer. Neither does the Lord. He proved it, by suffering for them. Hebrews, Chapter 2, Verses 7 to 10.
“You (God the Father) have made him (Jesus Christ) for a little while lower than the angels; You have crowned him with glory and honor, and have appointed him over the works of Your hands…”
“You have put all things in subjection under his feet.” For in subjecting all things to him, He left nothing that is not subject to him. But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him.
But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.
For it was fitting for God the Father, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings.
We must learn to value suffering. Suffering is to the spiritual life what exercise is to the body. We are to be content regardless of circumstances and environment. We are to recognize that we live in an evil age. We are to feel blessed when we suffer, because suffering produces an effect. John, Chapter 3, Verses 1 to 3…
See how great an unconditional love God the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.
Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when Christ appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.
And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
Romans, Chapter 8, Verse 19…
For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.
What effect does suffering produce? James, Chapter 1, Verses 3 and 4…
…knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.
And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
When you suffer…keep on putting one foot in front of the other.
When the Lord Jesus Christ
Promises Salvation, It’s a Guarantee!
“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and everyone in your household who also believes.”
“And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given to mankind by which we must be saved (except the name of the Lord Jesus Christ).”
“For the Son of Man (the Lord Jesus Christ) has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
CLOSING SONG
HOW GREAT YOU ARE
June Murphy
CLOSING PRAYER
Let us pray...
THANKS- INTERCESSION- PETITION
And we pray that You protect our steps as we go out into the world, Father…and that you keep us on the narrow way, completely dependent on You and Your Guiding, Mentoring Spirit…we ask this in Christ’s name, Amen.
Thanks for coming!
Thanks for watching!
Thanks for listening!
www.barahministries.com
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1220 S. Alma School Rd. Suite 201 Mesa, AZ 85210 |
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