070223...“Rejoicing In Suffering”...Colossians 1:24

Colossians 1:24...“Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you…”

2 Corinthians 11:24-27...“Five times I received 39 lashes from the Jews. Three times I was beaten with rods by the Romans. Once I was stoned by my enemies. Three times I was shipwrecked. I have spent a night and a day in the open sea. On frequent journeys, I faced dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my own people, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the open country, dangers on the sea, and dangers among false brothers; labor and hardship, many sleepless nights, hunger and thirst, often without food, cold, and lacking clothing.”

Acts 9:15-16...“The Lord said to him, ‘Go! For this man (Paul) is My chosen instrument to take My name to Gentiles, kings, and the Israelites. I will show him how much he must suffer for My name!’”

Sermon In A Sentence: We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that God uses them strategically in our sanctification and the spread of the Gospel.

Colossians 1:24-29...“Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I am completing in my flesh what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for His body, that is, the church. I have become its servant, according to God’s administration that was given to me for you, to make God’s message fully known, the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to His saints. God wanted to make known among the Gentiles the glorious wealth of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. We proclaim Him, warning and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ. I labor for this, striving with His strength that works powerfully in me.”

We Can Rejoice In Our Suffering Like The Apostle Paul Did By:
-Accepting our suffering as God’s individual plan for
-Praising God that He uses our suffering to build faith in the body
-Praising God that He uses our suffering to show the world how Christ suffered

2 Corinthians 1:3-7...“Praise the God & Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies & the God of all comfort. He comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any kind of affliction, through the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For as the sufferings of Christ overflow to us, so through Christ our comfort also overflows. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort & salvation. If we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is experienced in your endurance of the same sufferings that we suffer”

Colossians 1:24...“Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I am completing in my flesh what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for His body, that is, the church.”

Philippians 3:10...“That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings.”

Exodus 4:11...“Then the Lord said to him, ‘Who has made man's mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?’”