Title: When You Think of Grace, Do You Think of Power? Meta: If you're asked to define grace, do you put "power" in the definition? Many times the Bible connects grace with power when it's mentioned. Grace is vain unless it powerfully produces something. When we ask God for grace, we should be thinking about receiving power to be able to effectively serve Him. Tags: grace,favor,power,excerpt,Tim Conway 1 00:00:00,807 --> 00:00:05,649 This grace is to preach to the Gentiles - 2 00:00:05,649 --> 00:00:06,481 do you see it? 3 00:00:06,481 --> 00:00:08,156 "To me, though I am the very least 4 00:00:08,156 --> 00:00:09,215 of all the saints, 5 00:00:09,215 --> 00:00:10,416 this grace was given..." 6 00:00:10,416 --> 00:00:12,433 What grace are you talking about, Paul? 7 00:00:12,433 --> 00:00:14,299 "...to preach to the Gentiles 8 00:00:14,299 --> 00:00:17,983 the unsearchable riches of Christ..." 9 00:00:17,983 --> 00:00:20,436 What I particularly want you to notice 10 00:00:20,436 --> 00:00:22,461 is what Paul says in v. 7. 11 00:00:22,461 --> 00:00:23,893 Because this is the point. 12 00:00:23,893 --> 00:00:26,967 When Paul reflects on grace towards himself - 13 00:00:26,967 --> 00:00:29,226 "...of this Gospel, I was made a minister 14 00:00:29,226 --> 00:00:31,146 according to the gift of God's grace..." 15 00:00:31,146 --> 00:00:32,488 Now watch this. 16 00:00:32,488 --> 00:00:35,231 "...which was given me 17 00:00:35,231 --> 00:00:40,642 by the working of His power." 18 00:00:40,642 --> 00:00:44,417 I think Mark Webb hit it right on the head. 19 00:00:44,417 --> 00:00:46,952 May great grace fall upon me. 20 00:00:46,952 --> 00:00:49,069 Do you know how many times the word "power" 21 00:00:49,069 --> 00:00:50,538 came up in that song? 22 00:00:50,538 --> 00:00:53,145 You might want to notice it the next time we sing it. 23 00:00:53,145 --> 00:00:54,474 Great grace 24 00:00:54,474 --> 00:00:59,783 and continuous references to power. 25 00:00:59,783 --> 00:01:02,268 I wonder, do we think - 26 00:01:02,268 --> 00:01:05,075 again, Paul's the example. 27 00:01:05,075 --> 00:01:06,347 Now just stick with me. 28 00:01:06,347 --> 00:01:07,784 This is the last point here. 29 00:01:07,784 --> 00:01:12,084 Paul, what do you think about grace? 30 00:01:12,084 --> 00:01:14,853 When you think about grace 31 00:01:14,853 --> 00:01:17,796 and it's personal - given to me? 32 00:01:17,796 --> 00:01:21,171 See, Paul didn't leave that word "power" 33 00:01:21,171 --> 00:01:23,151 out of his sentence. 34 00:01:23,151 --> 00:01:25,826 If you're asked to define grace, 35 00:01:25,826 --> 00:01:27,713 I would just ask you this: 36 00:01:27,713 --> 00:01:30,672 Do you imitate Paul this way? 37 00:01:30,672 --> 00:01:34,007 When you're asked to define grace, 38 00:01:34,007 --> 00:01:39,734 do you put "power" in the definition? 39 00:01:39,734 --> 00:01:41,204 I remember years ago out at 40 00:01:41,204 --> 00:01:42,658 Community Baptist Church. 41 00:01:42,658 --> 00:01:44,395 Pat Horner preached a message: 42 00:01:44,395 --> 00:01:46,196 Grace and Power. 43 00:01:46,196 --> 00:01:48,425 I looked it up to see if there was any record 44 00:01:48,425 --> 00:01:49,643 of that message anywhere. 45 00:01:49,643 --> 00:01:52,257 I don't even remember what he preached on specifically, 46 00:01:52,257 --> 00:01:53,823 but I remember he was saying, 47 00:01:53,823 --> 00:01:56,575 if you're going to properly define grace, 48 00:01:56,575 --> 00:01:59,703 you need to speak of power. 49 00:01:59,703 --> 00:02:01,477 Listen to this. 50 00:02:01,477 --> 00:02:05,628 The Friberg Greek Lexicon - 51 00:02:05,628 --> 00:02:09,722 here's the definition of grace: 52 00:02:09,722 --> 00:02:16,229 "The exceptional effects produced by God's favor." 53 00:02:16,229 --> 00:02:19,851 See, we like to say "unmerited favor." 54 00:02:19,851 --> 00:02:22,778 But even when you look at the lexicons, 55 00:02:22,778 --> 00:02:25,683 "the exceptional effects produced 56 00:02:25,683 --> 00:02:29,257 by God's favor, by God's ability, 57 00:02:29,257 --> 00:02:32,839 by God's power, by God's enabling." 58 00:02:32,839 --> 00:02:34,959 I'll tell you this. Honestly, when I hear 59 00:02:34,959 --> 00:02:37,321 grace defined as unmerited favor, 60 00:02:37,321 --> 00:02:39,269 I immediately think to myself - 61 00:02:39,269 --> 00:02:41,310 and every time it comes from this pulpit, 62 00:02:41,310 --> 00:02:43,874 I think to myself, 63 00:02:43,874 --> 00:02:46,596 you left power out. 64 00:02:46,596 --> 00:02:48,338 I think every time that way. 65 00:02:48,338 --> 00:02:51,279 Simply defining grace as unmerited favor, 66 00:02:51,279 --> 00:02:55,124 in my estimation, is a rather bland definition. 67 00:02:55,124 --> 00:02:57,348 It's lacking something of the fullness 68 00:02:57,348 --> 00:03:00,116 of the enablement that God gives 69 00:03:00,116 --> 00:03:01,347 to His favor. 70 00:03:01,347 --> 00:03:04,913 The power, the fullness and the glory 71 00:03:04,913 --> 00:03:06,771 of grace is missing. 72 00:03:06,771 --> 00:03:08,336 Now listen. Listen. 73 00:03:08,336 --> 00:03:10,845 This place here is not the only place 74 00:03:10,845 --> 00:03:12,486 where Paul speaks like this. 75 00:03:12,486 --> 00:03:15,121 Just listen. 76 00:03:15,121 --> 00:03:17,332 In 1 Corinthians 15, 77 00:03:17,332 --> 00:03:19,150 we've mentioned this verse already, 78 00:03:19,150 --> 00:03:20,687 but listen to it again. 79 00:03:20,687 --> 00:03:23,681 V. 10, "But by the grace of God, 80 00:03:23,681 --> 00:03:27,086 I am what I am, and His grace toward me 81 00:03:27,086 --> 00:03:28,614 was not in vain." 82 00:03:28,614 --> 00:03:31,533 Listen, Paul has an idea in his mind 83 00:03:31,533 --> 00:03:35,571 that grace is vain unless it produces something. 84 00:03:35,571 --> 00:03:38,079 And he says grace isn't vain, 85 00:03:38,079 --> 00:03:40,761 and the way you can know it's not vain 86 00:03:40,761 --> 00:03:42,456 is because of this: 87 00:03:42,456 --> 00:03:44,210 He says, "On the contrary..." 88 00:03:44,210 --> 00:03:45,452 It wasn't vain. 89 00:03:45,452 --> 00:03:48,121 On the contrary, it was effectual. 90 00:03:48,121 --> 00:03:51,078 "I worked harder than any of them, 91 00:03:51,078 --> 00:03:53,148 though it was not I, but the grace of God 92 00:03:53,148 --> 00:03:54,625 that is with me." 93 00:03:54,625 --> 00:03:56,555 Do you see what he's saying about grace? 94 00:03:56,555 --> 00:03:58,350 Grace caused him to run harder, 95 00:03:58,350 --> 00:03:59,443 to work harder, 96 00:03:59,443 --> 00:04:01,873 to advance beyond others. 97 00:04:01,873 --> 00:04:04,421 He doesn't see this as somehow 98 00:04:04,421 --> 00:04:08,413 grace can be defined as unmerited favor 99 00:04:08,413 --> 00:04:10,942 unless you say that that favor 100 00:04:10,942 --> 00:04:13,176 has some kind of powerful effect 101 00:04:13,176 --> 00:04:14,532 in your life. 102 00:04:14,532 --> 00:04:16,836 Unmerited favor? Yes, absolutely. 103 00:04:16,836 --> 00:04:17,873 It is that. 104 00:04:17,873 --> 00:04:20,765 But what sort of favor, brethren, do we want? 105 00:04:20,765 --> 00:04:22,725 Do we want powerless favor? 106 00:04:22,725 --> 00:04:25,223 Do we want that which doesn't do anything? 107 00:04:25,223 --> 00:04:27,435 Do we want a favor that has no expression? 108 00:04:27,435 --> 00:04:29,879 Do we want favor that doesn't accomplish anything? 109 00:04:29,879 --> 00:04:31,164 I don't want that. 110 00:04:31,164 --> 00:04:32,851 Brethren, you know as well as I do, 111 00:04:32,851 --> 00:04:35,604 prayer meeting after prayer meeting after prayer meeting, 112 00:04:35,604 --> 00:04:36,799 what are we asking for? 113 00:04:36,799 --> 00:04:39,051 God, help us. Help! 114 00:04:39,051 --> 00:04:40,087 What's that? 115 00:04:40,087 --> 00:04:41,771 Do we want His favor? Yes. 116 00:04:41,771 --> 00:04:43,472 But not a favor that's indistinct, 117 00:04:43,472 --> 00:04:45,094 indiscernible, ambiguous, 118 00:04:45,094 --> 00:04:48,585 that nobody can define or see or measure. 119 00:04:48,585 --> 00:04:50,689 That isn't what we want, is it? 120 00:04:50,689 --> 00:04:52,807 Aren't we praying that God would give us 121 00:04:52,807 --> 00:04:55,490 such responses that when His grace comes, 122 00:04:55,490 --> 00:04:57,307 it would be great grace 123 00:04:57,307 --> 00:04:58,699 and there would be power? 124 00:04:58,699 --> 00:05:02,842 Demonstrations of power and the Spirit? 125 00:05:02,842 --> 00:05:06,323 That's what I want. 126 00:05:06,323 --> 00:05:08,491 Is that not what you want? 127 00:05:08,491 --> 00:05:11,556 We want that. We want that. 128 00:05:11,556 --> 00:05:13,502 Do we want favor that's without energy? 129 00:05:13,502 --> 00:05:15,111 Favor that's without strength? 130 00:05:15,111 --> 00:05:17,001 Without change? Without force? 131 00:05:17,001 --> 00:05:19,716 Look, grace manifests itself 132 00:05:19,716 --> 00:05:21,502 in demonstrations of power. 133 00:05:21,502 --> 00:05:22,689 It always does. 134 00:05:22,689 --> 00:05:24,051 We can say that we're saved 135 00:05:24,051 --> 00:05:25,978 by grace through faith, 136 00:05:25,978 --> 00:05:28,031 but the evidence of God's grace 137 00:05:28,031 --> 00:05:30,043 is that there's a demonstration of power. 138 00:05:30,043 --> 00:05:32,826 Scripture over and over ties these two things together. 139 00:05:32,826 --> 00:05:34,146 Listen to this: 140 00:05:34,146 --> 00:05:36,486 2 Corinthians 12:9 141 00:05:36,486 --> 00:05:39,193 You remember Paul has a thorn in the flesh; 142 00:05:39,193 --> 00:05:41,350 a messenger of Satan. 143 00:05:41,350 --> 00:05:42,888 And what does he say? 144 00:05:42,888 --> 00:05:45,073 He asks three times for it to be removed 145 00:05:45,073 --> 00:05:47,776 and the Lord came back and said this: 146 00:05:47,776 --> 00:05:51,784 "My grace is sufficient for you, 147 00:05:51,784 --> 00:05:56,244 for My power is made perfect in weakness." 148 00:05:56,244 --> 00:05:57,449 You see that? 149 00:05:57,449 --> 00:05:58,609 Power. 150 00:05:58,609 --> 00:06:01,080 Paul, I'm going to give you grace. 151 00:06:01,080 --> 00:06:03,762 And if you want to know a synonymous way 152 00:06:03,762 --> 00:06:07,853 of saying that: power. 153 00:06:07,853 --> 00:06:09,487 2 Timothy 2:1 154 00:06:09,487 --> 00:06:12,831 "You then, my child, be strengthened 155 00:06:12,831 --> 00:06:15,695 by the grace that is in Christ Jesus." 156 00:06:15,695 --> 00:06:17,419 Or this that goes right back to 157 00:06:17,419 --> 00:06:19,922 may great grace fall upon us. 158 00:06:19,922 --> 00:06:21,937 "And then with great power 159 00:06:21,937 --> 00:06:23,955 the apostles were giving their testimony 160 00:06:23,955 --> 00:06:25,891 to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, 161 00:06:25,891 --> 00:06:29,308 and great grace was upon them all." 162 00:06:29,308 --> 00:06:31,484 Paul said that God's grace came to him 163 00:06:31,484 --> 00:06:33,217 by the working of God's power. 164 00:06:33,217 --> 00:06:35,571 Is that not what we want to see? 165 00:06:35,571 --> 00:06:37,191 Look, many imagine themselves 166 00:06:37,191 --> 00:06:38,895 to be recipients of grace. 167 00:06:38,895 --> 00:06:41,712 Oh yes, by grace I've been saved! 168 00:06:41,712 --> 00:06:44,450 Listen, if that grace doesn't turn your life upside down, 169 00:06:44,450 --> 00:06:45,650 it isn't God's grace. 170 00:06:45,650 --> 00:06:47,009 Why? Because there's always 171 00:06:47,009 --> 00:06:49,091 a demonstration of power there. 172 00:06:49,091 --> 00:06:51,034 That's why Paul could look at somebody 173 00:06:51,034 --> 00:06:53,483 and say, you need to examine yourselves. 174 00:06:53,483 --> 00:06:55,757 If you're yet trapped in your sin, 175 00:06:55,757 --> 00:06:56,800 there's a problem. 176 00:06:56,800 --> 00:06:58,196 Examine yourselves. 177 00:06:58,196 --> 00:06:59,344 You can't be saved. 178 00:06:59,344 --> 00:07:00,616 Don't be deceived. 179 00:07:00,616 --> 00:07:02,157 You see, brethren, 180 00:07:02,157 --> 00:07:05,577 when it talks about tearing out the eyeball 181 00:07:05,577 --> 00:07:07,409 and chopping off the hand, 182 00:07:07,409 --> 00:07:10,277 or you don't go enter the kingdom, 183 00:07:10,277 --> 00:07:11,655 that isn't works. 184 00:07:11,655 --> 00:07:13,348 What that's saying is that grace 185 00:07:13,348 --> 00:07:17,056 gives an individual power to be 186 00:07:17,056 --> 00:07:19,547 radical in the fight for sin. 187 00:07:19,547 --> 00:07:21,264 That's what it's all about. 188 00:07:21,264 --> 00:07:22,490 It's power. 189 00:07:22,490 --> 00:07:25,145 And we say, oh, I'm saved by grace. 190 00:07:25,145 --> 00:07:26,684 But your life isn't changed? 191 00:07:26,684 --> 00:07:27,920 You're not a new creation? 192 00:07:27,920 --> 00:07:29,725 You're still the old dead thing 193 00:07:29,725 --> 00:07:31,905 going along in the old dead ways 194 00:07:31,905 --> 00:07:33,953 following the old dead path? 195 00:07:33,953 --> 00:07:35,239 The course of the world? 196 00:07:35,239 --> 00:07:38,023 And following the prince of the power of the air? 197 00:07:38,023 --> 00:07:41,348 Look, you may convince people around you, 198 00:07:41,348 --> 00:07:43,797 but it's going to be very unconvincing in that day. 199 00:07:43,797 --> 00:07:46,298 The only kind of Christianity that holds any weight 200 00:07:46,298 --> 00:07:49,068 in Scripture is that where there is power. 201 00:07:49,068 --> 00:07:50,192 Paul talked about it. 202 00:07:50,192 --> 00:07:51,904 Paul talked about his preaching. 203 00:07:51,904 --> 00:07:53,696 He talked about the kind of preaching 204 00:07:53,696 --> 00:07:55,530 that raised people from the dead. 205 00:07:55,530 --> 00:07:57,746 He talked about preaching that Gospel 206 00:07:57,746 --> 00:07:59,433 and that there was a demonstration 207 00:07:59,433 --> 00:08:01,098 of the Spirit and power. 208 00:08:01,098 --> 00:08:02,901 That's what we want in the preaching. 209 00:08:02,901 --> 00:08:04,658 That's what we want in the praying. 210 00:08:04,658 --> 00:08:06,729 That's what we want in the evangelization. 211 00:08:06,729 --> 00:08:08,585 That's what we want in the church life 212 00:08:08,585 --> 00:08:09,801 Craig was talking about. 213 00:08:09,801 --> 00:08:11,439 What do you think it takes 214 00:08:11,439 --> 00:08:14,680 to take an old, dead, unforgiving, 215 00:08:14,680 --> 00:08:17,853 hard-hearted, stiff-necked wretch 216 00:08:17,853 --> 00:08:20,307 and make them able to forgive one another 217 00:08:20,307 --> 00:08:22,127 and bear up one another's burdens. 218 00:08:22,127 --> 00:08:24,325 That doesn't happen by man-made means. 219 00:08:24,325 --> 00:08:26,346 That happens by the power of God. 220 00:08:26,346 --> 00:08:28,237 That's the kind of grace we need. 221 00:08:28,237 --> 00:08:31,298 We need grace that turns people's lives upside down. 222 00:08:31,298 --> 00:08:32,769 Isn't that what we want? 223 00:08:32,769 --> 00:08:34,168 Not where we have to get out 224 00:08:34,168 --> 00:08:36,566 the magnifying glass and look at everybody 225 00:08:36,566 --> 00:08:38,138 like, well, are they saved? 226 00:08:38,138 --> 00:08:40,589 We barely see any fruit. 227 00:08:40,589 --> 00:08:42,981 That's not what we want. 228 00:08:42,981 --> 00:08:44,680 We don't want, well, you know, 229 00:08:44,680 --> 00:08:46,558 they come to church once in awhile 230 00:08:46,558 --> 00:08:49,163 and they walk through the back door 10 minutes late, 231 00:08:49,163 --> 00:08:53,437 and well, they don't give... 232 00:08:53,437 --> 00:08:55,481 That's not it. 233 00:08:55,481 --> 00:08:58,426 Great grace fell upon the early church. 234 00:08:58,426 --> 00:08:59,597 There was power. 235 00:08:59,597 --> 00:09:01,469 They went to pray and the place shook. 236 00:09:01,469 --> 00:09:03,351 What do you think brings that? 237 00:09:03,351 --> 00:09:05,284 It's power. 238 00:09:05,284 --> 00:09:07,794 That ought to be the desire. 239 00:09:07,794 --> 00:09:09,344 That ought to be what we want. 240 00:09:09,344 --> 00:09:12,624 And brethren, think with me here. 241 00:09:12,624 --> 00:09:16,269 Look, we've got people that are deceived 242 00:09:16,269 --> 00:09:18,465 because there's no demonstration of power 243 00:09:18,465 --> 00:09:19,413 in their life. 244 00:09:19,413 --> 00:09:21,526 There's no demonstration of transformation. 245 00:09:21,526 --> 00:09:26,456 But on the other hand, just remember this. 246 00:09:26,456 --> 00:09:28,884 Just because you suffer more greatly 247 00:09:28,884 --> 00:09:32,444 in this church than others do - 248 00:09:32,444 --> 00:09:34,409 you say why am I made to bear this 249 00:09:34,409 --> 00:09:36,560 when other people aren't? 250 00:09:36,560 --> 00:09:41,932 That is no evidence that you are graceless. 251 00:09:41,932 --> 00:09:44,590 Scripture's very plain. 252 00:09:44,590 --> 00:09:47,402 (incomplete thought) 253 00:09:47,402 --> 00:09:50,735 Think of the Apostle Paul. 254 00:09:50,735 --> 00:09:54,682 Jesus said to him, 255 00:09:54,682 --> 00:09:58,439 when he asked that that thorn be taken away, 256 00:09:58,439 --> 00:10:00,773 He specifically said, 257 00:10:00,773 --> 00:10:02,954 "My grace is sufficient for you, 258 00:10:02,954 --> 00:10:07,895 for My power is made perfect in weakness." 259 00:10:07,895 --> 00:10:11,390 Do you know His power flows through us 260 00:10:11,390 --> 00:10:13,511 when we're not strong. 261 00:10:13,511 --> 00:10:15,412 We think of it the other way around. 262 00:10:15,412 --> 00:10:17,940 We want to feel strong. 263 00:10:17,940 --> 00:10:19,433 But you know what, so often, 264 00:10:19,433 --> 00:10:20,775 it's when we feel weak 265 00:10:20,775 --> 00:10:22,007 and we know we're weak, 266 00:10:22,007 --> 00:10:25,060 and we're desperate with God. 267 00:10:25,060 --> 00:10:29,365 But He makes His power flow through weakness. 268 00:10:29,365 --> 00:10:33,329 And you know, there in Romans 5, 269 00:10:33,329 --> 00:10:37,587 He says we stand in grace. 270 00:10:37,587 --> 00:10:43,737 It's like we stand in the realm of grace. 271 00:10:43,737 --> 00:10:45,963 And you know what he says there? 272 00:10:45,963 --> 00:10:48,293 He takes us down this path, 273 00:10:48,293 --> 00:10:51,386 and he says that 274 00:10:51,386 --> 00:10:53,765 "we rejoice in our sufferings." 275 00:10:53,765 --> 00:10:55,541 See, this is standing in grace. 276 00:10:55,541 --> 00:10:57,486 We rejoice in our sufferings. Why? 277 00:10:57,486 --> 00:10:58,624 What happens? 278 00:10:58,624 --> 00:11:00,534 Well, because they produce endurance. 279 00:11:00,534 --> 00:11:02,302 What's that? 280 00:11:02,302 --> 00:11:03,402 What's endurance? 281 00:11:03,402 --> 00:11:04,848 Endurance is what you call it 282 00:11:04,848 --> 00:11:08,258 when you suffer longer 283 00:11:08,258 --> 00:11:10,553 without complaining. 284 00:11:10,553 --> 00:11:12,163 You know how it is. 285 00:11:12,163 --> 00:11:14,698 You suffer. You complain. 286 00:11:14,698 --> 00:11:16,976 Greater endurance is 287 00:11:16,976 --> 00:11:19,650 you don't complain as fast. 288 00:11:19,650 --> 00:11:21,471 Greater endurance - you don't seek 289 00:11:21,471 --> 00:11:25,786 a way out of the suffering that's sinful. 290 00:11:25,786 --> 00:11:28,248 You don't seek a way out that's going to 291 00:11:28,248 --> 00:11:30,276 dishonor God. 292 00:11:30,276 --> 00:11:32,975 Now, we're never told to suffer if there's a way out, 293 00:11:32,975 --> 00:11:34,924 but you only want to take the way out 294 00:11:34,924 --> 00:11:37,133 if it's the righteous way out. 295 00:11:37,133 --> 00:11:39,341 (incomplete thought) 296 00:11:39,341 --> 00:11:40,956 But how does that work? 297 00:11:40,956 --> 00:11:42,449 That's the power of God. 298 00:11:42,449 --> 00:11:45,303 You see, suffering - 299 00:11:45,303 --> 00:11:46,443 oh, we all know it. 300 00:11:46,443 --> 00:11:48,690 Christians for 2,000 years know it. 301 00:11:48,690 --> 00:11:49,738 Our greatest growth, 302 00:11:49,738 --> 00:11:51,040 our greatest refining 303 00:11:51,040 --> 00:11:53,152 has always been when we're in the fire. 304 00:11:53,152 --> 00:11:54,391 And how does that work? 305 00:11:54,391 --> 00:11:56,751 Power. 306 00:11:56,751 --> 00:11:58,005 Because think about this. 307 00:11:58,005 --> 00:12:00,521 You take a lost man and you put him under suffering, 308 00:12:00,521 --> 00:12:02,438 and it doesn't make him more enduring. 309 00:12:02,438 --> 00:12:03,914 It doesn't produce character. 310 00:12:03,914 --> 00:12:04,763 What's character? 311 00:12:04,763 --> 00:12:06,384 That's the proven worth. 312 00:12:06,384 --> 00:12:08,024 And then what follows out of that? 313 00:12:08,024 --> 00:12:08,936 Hope. 314 00:12:08,936 --> 00:12:10,058 Why is there hope? 315 00:12:10,058 --> 00:12:12,925 Because when we suffer, 316 00:12:12,925 --> 00:12:14,622 we look and see: 317 00:12:14,622 --> 00:12:16,382 I didn't give way. 318 00:12:16,382 --> 00:12:17,858 I endured. 319 00:12:17,858 --> 00:12:19,921 Somehow, God held me up. 320 00:12:19,921 --> 00:12:21,566 And I continued going. 321 00:12:21,566 --> 00:12:23,319 I continued trusting Christ. 322 00:12:23,319 --> 00:12:26,304 And I see that there was a proven quality 323 00:12:26,304 --> 00:12:28,456 and a proven worth that was worked in me. 324 00:12:28,456 --> 00:12:31,027 How does that happen? How does suffering produce that? 325 00:12:31,027 --> 00:12:32,557 Because God is doing something 326 00:12:32,557 --> 00:12:33,538 that man can't do. 327 00:12:33,538 --> 00:12:35,711 And that doesn't happen in the lost man. 328 00:12:35,711 --> 00:12:37,558 You put a lost man under suffering, 329 00:12:37,558 --> 00:12:39,239 he will curse God. 330 00:12:39,239 --> 00:12:40,720 You put a man under suffering, 331 00:12:40,720 --> 00:12:44,238 he will seek all manner of unlawful ways 332 00:12:44,238 --> 00:12:48,572 to escape that suffering. 333 00:12:48,572 --> 00:12:50,710 It's supernatural. 334 00:12:50,710 --> 00:12:52,612 It's power. Power. 335 00:12:52,612 --> 00:12:54,384 Our greatest advantages 336 00:12:54,384 --> 00:12:56,045 and our greatest purifyings 337 00:12:56,045 --> 00:12:59,209 have always occurred in the fire. 338 00:12:59,209 --> 00:13:01,520 And there's no other way to explain that 339 00:13:01,520 --> 00:13:05,283 than the power of God. 340 00:13:05,283 --> 00:13:09,621 So Christian, don't believe yourself graceless 341 00:13:09,621 --> 00:13:13,318 simply because God calls you to suffer more. 342 00:13:13,318 --> 00:13:15,066 In fact, you may find in the end - 343 00:13:15,066 --> 00:13:16,872 you have to remember there's actually 344 00:13:16,872 --> 00:13:18,990 kind of a tying together - 345 00:13:18,990 --> 00:13:21,151 this momentary, light affliction 346 00:13:21,151 --> 00:13:24,878 is working for me 347 00:13:24,878 --> 00:13:26,952 this eternal weight of glory. 348 00:13:26,952 --> 00:13:29,580 This excerpt was taken from the full sermon: 349 00:13:29,580 --> 00:13:35,558 The Self Reflections of an Inspired Man of God.