By Grace Alone

  ”I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel” (Philippians 1:12, ESV)

 

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Trials and suffering to further the Gospel is Biblical as we see in the verse above. In fact, being tried as in fire and purified, so as to remove any impurity, runs through the entire Bible. (Job 23:10; Ps 66:10-12; Pro 17:3; Isa 1:25; 48:10; 1 Pet 1:7)

So we see, it is not a matter of the chains themselves (or any other trial), but what we do in the chains that counts. We can claim to have faith all day long but when the trial comes what really comes out of our mouths? Do we act on fear or faith? Are we trusting in Christ alone or do we trust in the things of this world to get us by? (2 Cor 4:7-10)

“But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. 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, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.” (2 Corinthians 4:7-10, ESV)

May the Lord advance His Gospel through our suffering and afflictions…

 Jeff

All Sermons in the Series “Life of Joy in Christ”

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Tags: Evangelism, Philippians, Sermons, Suffering

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 28th, 2008 at 11:06 pm and is filed under Evangelism, Philippians, Sermons. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.