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April 21, 2024
Pastor Toni DeNunzio
Matthew 7:27 “When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash” New Living Translation
Sometimes God’s preparation comes packaged as pain.
Appreciating Pain (Don’t Waste Your Pain)
James 1:2 Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. New Living Translation
We Choose Joy. One of BC’s Core Values
James 1:2 Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. 3 For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. 4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. New Living Translation
Life is a series of opportunities to trust God or trust anything else.
Trials reveal who we trust. When our faith is tested, it produces endurance and when endurance has its full effect, we will be complete and mature. We won’t lack anything.
Pain is not the problem. Pain is an indicator that there is a problem.
Matthew 7:26 But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. 27 When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.” New Living Translation
God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world. -C.S. Lewis
James 1:13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. English Standard Version
James 1:16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. English Standard Version
James 1:14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. English Standard Version
God is not the source of your trials. He is the Redeemer of your trials.
Don't waste your pain.
People who learn to overcome opposition aren't opposed to opposition.
As we mature, we don’t avoid pain, we learn to appreciate it.
You may not have an answer the why, but don't let it go to waste.
James 1:5 If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. New Living Translation
Romans 5:3 But we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and 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. English Standard Version
Don’t just look to understand the “Why of It” but look for the “What of It”.
· What is this doing to me?
· What is it revealing about me?
· What in this can help me grow?
Pain is shaped by perspective.
Don’t just look at life from a perspective of pain but see your pain through a perspective of purpose.
Realize God may be doing something in you before He does something through you.
2 Corinthians 11:23b I have worked harder, been put in prison more often, been whipped times without number, and faced death again and again. 24 Five different times the Jewish leaders gave me thirty-nine lashes. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. Once I spent a whole night and a day adrift at sea. New Living Translation
2 Corinthians 11:26 I have traveled on many long journeys. I have faced danger from rivers and from robbers. I have faced danger from my own people, the Jews, as well as from the Gentiles. I have faced danger in the cities, in the deserts, and on the seas. And I have faced danger from men who claim to be believers but are not. New Living Translation
2 Corinthians 11:27 I have worked hard and long, enduring many sleepless nights. I have been hungry and thirsty and have often gone without food. I have shivered in the cold, without enough clothing to keep me warm. 28 Then, besides all this, I have the daily burden of my concern for all the churches. New Living Translation
2 Corinthians 4:16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. 17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. English Standard Version
Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. New International Version
God works all things to the good, not according to our pain, but His Purpose.
What If:
· the thing you dreaded the most about your pain, is what God uses to develop you the most through your pain?
· the stronger the pain is, is an indicator of a bigger purpose of God’s plan for your life?
Joshua 24:15 …then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, … But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” New International Version
Today, you get to choose how you view your pain, how you use your pain, and how you overcome your pain.