Diamond or Pencil? Can you take the pain!

The David Alliance [email protected]  Garth Heckman  OUR WORLD IS BUILT ON ONE PREMISE AND ONE PREMISE ALONE: HOW TO AVOID PAIN! EVERY ADVERTISEMENT, POST, SPEECH, BLURB, NEWSCAST… Bottom line its about avoiding pain.  A life without pain is not joy… it is numb.    "We think the goal is a life with no pain. But a life with no pain isn't joy — it's just numbness wearing a smile.”   When I busted my toe… went in to the doctor joking…  When they started stabbing my toe with a red hot needle I was quiet… the nurse said “well it must not hurt that much for you”.  My wife quickly replied “oh no, it hurts… when my husband is in pain he doesn’t say anything”.    IS THAT YOU TODAY? When I’m in pain I don’t say much.   -  How long has this been going on?  Well your friend with their fancy persuasion Don’t admit that its part of the scheme I Can’t help but have my suspicions  Cuz I aint quite as dumb as I seen     -  When Ryan was born I almost lost Kim and Ryan… just nights before on a Sunday I was at the altar giving God everything… no matter what - even my unborn son… that night in the hospital I went out in the hallway and prayed… God I didn’t really mean it.    Pain isn't just endured — it's productive, when surrendered to God.   Big Idea Pain is not evidence God has abandoned you — it's often the very mechanism He uses to complete you. Point 1: Pain is Pressure, Not Punishment Rom. 5:3 We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. 4 And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. 5 And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.   Pile of leaves at the cottage…  “Eddy call the fire department”   Greek: θλῖψις (thlipsis) — translated tribulation, trouble, affliction, anguish, persecution, burdened — the word literally carries the image of being pressed or squeezed under weight. Paul uses this exact word in Romans 5:3 — "we also exult in our tribulations (thlipsis), knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance." Thlipsis isn't God's disappointment in you; it's pressure applied toward something, not punishment for something.   Illustration: Diamonds form under extreme pressure and heat, deep in the earth, over millions of years — carbon that never faced that pressure stays soft graphite, useful for pencils, never for jewelry. The pressure isn't the interruption of the diamond's story. It is the diamond's story.   **No girl swoons over a boy kneeling down and proposing with a pencil.