Good evening. This is Bishop Collins from the House of Worship in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and I hope you're having a great day today I came by to tell you today. It doesn't matter no matter what you're going through no matter how bad you think it is that God is on Your side and there is a purpose for your despair. Let's go and check out the message.
The purpose of mighty spare. I'm reading out of the New American Standard Bible. My Bible says, for we do not want you to be unaware. You're Bible may say ignorant.
Now, let me try to the context of this just for a moment. This is Paul writing what we believe was his last of four letters to the Church at Corinth. We only have documentation of four of the letters. I'm sorry of two of the letters.
That would be the first letter was the early letter. You said first Corinthians. There was the second letter which is first Corinthians. There was the third letter which is the severe letter.
And this letter, he's writing this letter to the Church at Corinthian because he has been away for some three years. And he's on the way there. He runs into Titus and he's Titus says, man, that last letter you wrote, it really had a positive effect. So Paul pins another letter, gives it to Titus and tells Titus to take it to Corinth even though he's going to have to carry.
And so this is where this is coming from. So he's writing to encourage them. But also as you read through this epistle, what you see is Paul is writing in defense of his apostolic authenticity. But in this moment he's encouraged.
He says, I write this because I don't want you to be ignorant, brethren, cistern, of our affliction which came to us in Asia. That we were burdened excessively beyond our strength so that we despair, somebody say, despair, despair, even of life or even for life. We were burdened so excessively that it was beyond our ability to withstand it to the point that we despair for our lives. Verse 9.
He says, indeed had the sentence of death within ourselves. In other words, we were sure we were going to die. In order that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the deed, who delivered us from so great apparel of death and will deliver us, he on whom we have set our hope and he will deliver us. Amen?
Maybe see the house of God, take me down just a little bit on the purpose of my despair. So the set above this is if you read the first seven verses of this chapter, what you'll find out is Paul saying, here it's me, it's Paul, the apostle Paul declaring his apostolic authenticity, it's me and Timothy, my son in the ministry. And he's setting up the precursor before he gets to verse 8. So a couple of things he lays out, one, he reminds us that God is the God of all comfort.
He says, if you have any comfort, if you receive any comfort, if I receive any comfort, if I have any comfort, that comfort came from God, the God of the universe, Paul's God, not just any God, not a little G God, but the big G God, and then what she described. He goes on to say that he comforts us. The reason that God comforts us is that we might comfort others. He goes on to say that parts, they went down, parts of the benefit, part of the benefit of the cross is the suffering that comes from the defense of the cross.
So help me Jesus. He says that's a benefit, it's a benefit for you and I as believers that when we suffer as a result of our standing on the cross of Jesus Christ, that is actually a benefit to you and I. Because our affliction results in our consolation. Our affliction results in our salvation.
In other words, what he's saying is, if you never suffered, you can never be comforted. If you were never in a hard spot, you can never be delivered. When you are comforted by God, you understand how big God is, how great God is, how trustworthy God is in the name of Jesus Christ. This is all a test to see how you and I are going to respond.
And then, fifthly and finally, he says, our comfort is for someone else's consolation and salvation. In other words, what he's saying is that when I stand on the cross, I'm going to be afflicted. I'm going to have trouble. I'm going to have difficulty with the purpose of the difficulty and the trouble.
It's so that I will be comforted because I won't leave me where I am. He's going to come in and turn things around. I'm going to be comforted. I'm going to be delivered.
When I'm comforted and delivered, it gives me the opportunity to tell you what in the same situation about what it is that God did for me. And so you'll understand that God is no respecter of person, but he's done for one. He'll do for another. And that's why he's saying here, this is the setup before he gets to the mercy.
Now, there's just two things here today. One is there's the despair, but there's also the deliverance. So I don't know today whether or not you find yourself in despair. Let's go back to the despair slide.
I don't know if you find yourself in a place of despair today or not. I heard over the preachers say a long time ago that either you are going into trouble, you are currently in trouble, or you're just coming out of trouble. That trouble is all around no matter where you are. I don't know today, but maybe you had to deal with sickness anybody in the house today.
When you've gotten the diagnosis, you've gotten the problem. There's an issue. There's a challenge. You might have even heard the C word.
God forbid. But there's sickness in your body. It's not a cold. It's not just a fever.
There's some serious things going on here. And you found yourself in despair. Can I get any help in here today? Somebody else, I don't know if you've ever had this happen to you, but I've been betrayed.
I don't know about you. We don't ever have to be talking about betrayal in the church today. But betrayal is on every hand. Even Christ himself was betrayed.
And we'll find that the people that we counted on the most, the people that should be on our side, the people that should be encouraging us, and blessing us. That those are the very people who in the name of Jesus Christ find themselves turning their backs on us in our moment of need and our moment of desperation. Anybody in the room today, anybody ever been betrayed, anybody have a husband that left them, anybody have a wife that left them, anybody that had somebody they poured into as a disciple that turned their back on them and stabbed them in the back. Anybody in the name of Jesus Christ ever been betrayed in the room.
We find ourselves in despair. We find ourselves in anguish over death. We know that the enemy comes to steal keel and destroy. But yes, physical death of the death of a loved one, the death of a mother, the death of a father, the death of a beloved spouse, the death of a child, the name of Jesus Christ, all of those things bring despair into the room, bring anxiety into the room.
But also the death of an opportunity. I don't know maybe you've been in a situation where things were going really well. You were opportunities were coming to you, but all of a sudden it all fell down. Maybe you got fired from a really, really good job.
Maybe the job of your dreams you got fired from. Maybe the situation that you know that you should have stepped into, but you didn't step into. Maybe there was a bad choice that you made, the cause, things in your life to turn around. And maybe it was just life itself in the name of Jesus Christ.
But I want you to know today if you have not experienced despair, and I'm deep in utter despair, like the Stinger Paulus saying, what Paulus is saying is, I am hopeless and I am helpless. He said there's nothing I can do to stop this thing from happening and I have no hope that anything is going to change. He said, there's trouble coming and it's going to hit hard. It's going to be bad.
I don't know when it's going to happen, but it's going to happen. I don't know if you've ever been there in the name of Jesus Christ, but if you haven't ever been there, just keep living young people because life has a way of rolling despair into the room. There's despair all around us. We make choices that went the wrong way.
We just dealt with the difficulties of life. There is trouble. In fact, God himself said in this life there will be trouble. David, even David, even the righteous person runs into affliction.
It rains on the just and the unjust in the name of Jesus Christ. And sometimes the problem is so bad that it's impossible for me to tell you how bad the problem is. If you can't get in this thing with me, no matter what words I will use to tell you how bad it is, it really won't convey the pain that I'm dealing with right now. It's so bad.
I'm so low. It's so difficult. It's so little. There's so little help.
I'm left all by myself and the walls are crumbling in all around me. It's so bad that I know I'm convinced that I am going to die. This thing is going to perish right before my very eyes. And I don't know what to do.
I don't know where to turn. I picked up every self-help book I know. I've googled it on the internet till I'm about to pass out. I've paced it on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat.
Everywhere I can learn. I would have talked to the past. I went to talk to my momma to my daddy to my brother to my sister. I tell everybody that I knew and nobody gave me an answer.
I'm going to die. This thing is over. I see it. It's in my spirit.
I know it's going to happen. Notice it's over. It's been a good ride. It's over.
It's over. It's been a marathon. 20 years. I see it's over.
I have some good jobs. I make some bad choices in the stock market. I find it's over. I'm going to start over.
I see it's over. I see it's over. It's over right here. It's over right now.
Not next year. Not next month. Not next week. But right now.
Anybody here ever been there? I have been there. The House of Worship Church family. And with that can be no comfort.
From a human perspective. Nobody's going to lay hands on you and it's going to be alright. Nobody's going to bite you over for dinner and cook you a good meal. It's going to make it all better.
The name of Jesus Christ. That is the deep despair that's in my soul. It's deep down inside of me. And nothing physical is going to help it in the name of Jesus Christ.
Can you imagine? Here's Paul. Here's Paul. Here's Paul.
He's saying we don't know what the situation is. We don't know what was going on. But Paul said I found myself somewhere in the service of God that put me in a place where I knew that I was going to die. Now I don't know about you, but if I found myself in that place, if you a man or woman of God, what you're going to find yourself doing, you're going to start praying.
You're going to pray like you've never prayed before. You're going to fall down. If you never got on your knees, you're going to get on your knees now. You're never laid out.
You're going to get on your lily out. If you never shed a tear when you prayed before, you're going to cry in this breath. In the name of Jesus. I see Paul laying out crying, calling on the name of Jesus.
He was a man of prayer. But I see Paul going into full prayer mode. He's not praying. Now I lay me down to sleep.
Oh, he's not. He's crying. He's blowing. He's going.
John 16 and 33 talking about the spirit. He says in this world Christ talking. You're going to have trouble in this world whether you are a child or a child or a child of Satan. You still go have trouble.
In this way, but Christ is talking to disciples. He's talking to men and women of God. He says in this world, when you stand on my principles, when you lift the name of Jesus Christ, when you stand up on college campuses, I'm sorry. I'm a disciple of Christ.
I can't do that. I got to go this direction. I can't stand that petition because my belief in Jesus, the love of Christ constrains me. He says, you will have persecution.
You will have trouble. You will have pressure. You will have affliction. You will have despair.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Totally. I can write this in 11th chapter.
Look. He's still writing. Still writing. Still writing.
Still writing. He says, and they serve us the Christ. If they are serving us the Christ, he said, I am the more. So far from labor.
So far more labor. I'm working harder. If more imprisonment. I've been in jail.
Beaten. Times without. No, I can't tell you how many times I've been beaten because of my stance. Jesus Christ.
He said, often in danger of death. I thought I was going to die for sure. But I've been in danger of dying. I've been in places where folks wouldn't normally go in the name of Jesus Christ.
That's Jesus. He says, five times I received from the Jews the 39 lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned.
Three times I was shit-rared. A night and day I spent in the deep. He said, man, I've been through some things. I've been through some stuff.
Standing for Jesus. If he's doing 12 says, stranger. Here's the person that ought to be the most in despair. Not the believer.
Not the child of God. Not the one who's standing on God's word. Because I know who's on your side in the name of Jesus Christ. But what?
Who really ought to be in despair is the one who's strangers from the covenant of promise. Those who don't know about what God has promised. They have no hope in going to heaven. And without God in the world.
They don't have a relationship with Jesus Christ. I want you to know that if you're expecting a world where there is no despair, maybe it doesn't exist. It's going to be trouble. Peter even says it in one of his epistles.
He says, don't think it's strange. When trouble show up in your life. The good news is that, as he says in John 1633 in this world, there will be trouble. Don't be afraid.
Don't freak out. Don't lose it. He says, because I've overcome the world. In other words, I've overcome the trouble.
What he's saying is, the trouble looks big, but I'm bigger. The trouble looks bad, but I'm bad. I have it all under control. There is the despair.
But the good news is there is deliverance. He says that the reason I had all the stuff going on, the purpose of my despair is, the reason I had all this despair was so I could read it. I could reach a point where I would no longer trust in myself. Jesus.
The reason that I felt down. The reason that I got broken. The reason that I was going to lose it all. The reason that I was going to die.
The reason I was convinced that the thing was over. So I could reach a point in my spirit that I was no longer trusting in me to make it happen, but I had to turn to the Lord. He said, I had to turn to the one who calls his dead things to come back to life. He said, because he delivered us.
He said, he went on to say, if I set my hope in him, he goes on to say, he will deliver me. He said, give me the testimony. He said, I reached a point in my life where I was in a situation where I thought I was dead. The analogy, something that was so horrible, so horrific, I thought I was going to die, I was about to have it right now.
And I called on the name of Jesus. And now as I look back over it, now as I have been delivered from it, I look back over it. I hear the voice of God speaking to me saying, really, you were never in jeopardy. You were never really in jeopardy.
I was simply testing you to make sure you know who it is that holds your hand. Oh, my God, you don't hold your own hand. He holds your hand. I want to make sure you understand where your trust has got to be if you're going to make it through life.
In a way that honors God. He said, I don't want you to be ignorant. I don't want you to be ignorant thinking that there won't be any trouble. I don't want you to be ignorant thinking that when you're in trouble that you can get yourself out of trouble.
I don't want you to be ignorant, but I want you to be aware of that I'm still God. Oh, I thought you were shouting a lot off of that. I'm still God. Somebody is in a situation right now in the name of Jesus Christ.
And they just need to hear and know that He is still God. Oh, yes He is. Yes He is. Yes He is.
I don't care what the devil is saying. Oh, I don't care what your eyes do. So He is here. I don't care how bad it looks like it's going in the name of Jesus Christ.
If you keep doing what it is that God told you to do standing on the word of God, He likes you in the name of Jesus Christ. What you will come to the conclusion is the same one that Paul came to that God is still God. If I trust in Him, He is the one who is listening to you about this thing and turn this thing around, won't he do it? We are excited to let you know that we have developed an app for the ministry and we want you to try it out.
Go to the iTunes or Android App Store and download the MyChirChat. From there, enter in our name and then give it a try. There are so many great features to help us better connect throughout the week. Be sure to look at the content integration, the Bible and journal features along with all of our social media.
Give it a try today and see how easy it is to stay connected. I need to hear that message. I need to hear it again because man that just speaks to my heart so deeply and so richly that life is full of difficulties and challenges. But man, God is there and God is working in the midst of all of that.
I just want to thank God for that message and the power of that word. I want to give you the opportunity if you are going through it right now and things aren't where they want to be and you just aren't working away. They should in the name of Jesus Christ. Maybe the issue is that you just have a line yourself with God.
You have a line yourself with God's will for your life. The best way to do that is to make sure that you are in a right relationship with God. You have given your heart to him that he really has captured you by grace that I am saved and I know where my eternity lies. If you haven't done that, if you are not sure about that, I want to give you the chance to be sure.
The way that you do that is by simply praying a short prayer and asking Jesus Christ to come into your heart. So rid of your life to him, asking him to be Lord and Savior of your life. When you do that, things change. They have changed in the spirit.
All things that are old have passed away and the newness of life in the spirit comes into your life. The best thing that could ever happen to you. When you do that tonight, let me know because I want to put you on our prayer list and pray for you and make sure that as best we can to encourage you in the Lord. Amen.
I want to pray for everyone in the name of Jesus Christ. We just lift up. Everyone that is watching this program tonight to you Lord God, individually and collectively, families of Lord God, relationships, finances, physicality, spiritual, and everything that we are. We lift up to you Lord and ask you to get your glory out of it Lord.
Your will will be done in it. Because we don't even know how to pray. We don't even know what to pray for. Because we can't see tomorrow.
We can't see next week. You know all about that Lord God. So we trust you not without eternity Lord but God. We trust you with our today and our tomorrow Lord.
And so we ask you to step into that super naturally and to have your way father for your glory and for our benefit. We pray. Amen. Listen, I want to invite you to the house of worship.
Have you never been to the house of worship? Have you watched this program and come in? I want to know what churches like at the house of worship. I'm inviting you personally.
Pastor Collins is inviting you to the house of worship this coming Sunday at 10 AM as our regular church service in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Where in Oak Ridge? Where in Oak Ridge? It's by the Wal-Mart.
It's right down the street from the Wal-Mart. Will an elementary school. You know what that is? Don't you?
Right beside Will an elementary school. And man, I'm going to tell you something. It's an incredible time in the Lord. And there's going to come a word that's going to come out of that house and name it Jesus Christ.
That's going to have a profound effect on your life. And so we want you to be there. We would love to see you. I'm inviting you to see you Sunday at 10 AM.
God bless. Have a blessed week. Bye bye. Praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. In the house of Christ Christ. Hey, this is Bishop Collins from the house of worship in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
And I wanted to share with you my latest book called Christian Leadership for the 21st Century. We've been using this book in a class I've been teaching called Christian Leadership Academy for over a year. And the testimonials from this book have been incredible. It's just lives.
People got promoted. People got the best performance praise they've ever had. The depth and richness of the word God is incredible. So visit our website, thehouseofworship.com.
So make sure you get your copy today. It's going to change your life. Thank you.