The Servant Jesus: Do Not Lose Heart

Based on a sermon by one of my professors, Dr. John Piper,II Corinthians 4:16-18DO NOT LOSE HEARTIntro: Did anyone come here today hoping, praying, longing, for someone to sing something, pray something, or preach something that would strip all your hope away?• Did anyone come here hoping to be discouraged?• Did anyone come to the show today hoping that someone would knock all the wind out of your sails?• No! Nobody came here that way today. Nobody came saying, “Please hurt me. Please strip away all my motivation for serving the Lord. Please discourage me. Please defeat me.”• We came here looking for the opposite, didn’t we?• We came here looking for encouragement, seeking hope, desiring to be motivated to greater things in the Lord.• We came here looking for help.• If I told you there was a secret that would allow you to have hope in this world, would you want to know what it was?• In a world that is so filled with hopelessness, discouragement, and defeat, if I told you that I knew a way you live your life every day and not “lose heart”, would you refuse to hear me tell you that secret?• Of course not! That is why we are here.Let’s read from the Word of God!