East Baptist Church

This is an index of Paul's difficulties and hardships that he experienced during his ministry. But there is another way of looking at hardships and difficulties in ministry, or in life: they are adventures. They are tests of your faith. They refine us and mature us. Be a Christian who has adventures, who takes risks, and who suffers with Christ.

Jesus calls us, and when He calls us, He says "Die to yourself, take up your cross, and follow Me." I don't know about you, but for me the constant struggle is "Jesus, how can I follow you without dying? How can I still hold on to the things that make me comfortable? How can I still hold on to the things that make me feel safe? How can I love you and love what I have?" But I can't. That is a divided loyalty, and a house divided against itself cannot stand. Your eye must be singularly focused on Christ, not casting longing glances at the world along the way.

God says that He is making everything new. Jesus inaugurates a new covenant. You have gone through a new birth, and have new desires. If you are in Christ, you are a new creation.

Paul has a sense of duty that motivates him: it's the love of Christ. Christ died for all; I'll say it again, Christ died for all! All mankind, all nations, all cultures, all ages, all classes, everyone with a "weird" accent, He died for them as well. Christ died for all, Hallelujah!

We will have a body dominated by the Spirit. We are called now to please God in our bodies, and then we will be called to please God in our bodies as well. You are a temple of the Holy Spirit! Therefore, glorify God with your body.

If I live in Massachusetts and travel to Florida, I don't buy nice things for my hotel room. I don't decorate the cabin of the plane where I'm sitting to make it feel like home. I know its temporary, I know I'm just passing through. I'm not buying new furniture for my hotel room. We're just sojourners passing through. Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven.

Keep honest. Expect rejection and opposition. Proclaiming Christ. "Where are we to find out about God? Where do we look? We look to Christ. In looking to Christ, we proclaim: "My God is just like Jesus!" What is God like? He's just like Jesus. How does He respond to evil and sin? Just like Jesus. How will He respond if I come to Him? Just like Jesus! Jesus says in the Gospel of John, 'Anybody who has seen Me, has seen the Father.' That's the greatest news we could have. That's what we preach here. You want to know about the eternal, invisible God? Look to Christ, because my God is just like Jesus."

The Old Testament was external--written outside the heart, as it were. But there was a great glory on the top of Mount Sinai, it was incredible, it was fantastic! Yet, Paul says, how much more glorious then when the New Covenant comes! The fulfillment of the law and a transformation of heart; not just an external thing, but an internal change.

Paul wants to show his readers that he is part of a winning team. So far he has talked about troubles and hassle and pressures and problems. But he wants to make it clear: that is not the whole story in ministry. Rather, he sees himself in a triumphal procession. Not of the emperor, but of Christ! Christ is the winner! He is in the chariot, coming in.

There is a time to discipline, a time to forgive, and a time to be an example for others. There are consequences to sin, there is forgiveness for sin. When you're sinned against, be an example of forgiveness.

Like it or not, we will be criticized; so how do you deal with criticism? It's part of being a card-carrying human being, and in 2 Corinthians, that's the major theme. Dealing with criticism.

Paul knows that God called him, Paul knows the God who called him, and Paul knows that God works through prayers, both his and others'.

Jesus knew His purpose because He stayed in communion with God. He often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. That is what it looks like to abide in the Lord; to set apart intentional time in which your only purpose is to be with Jesus.

Corinth was an international, but wicked place. A place where prostitution and immorality were rife. The descriptor "Corinthian" was used to describe a person as wicked, perverse, drunk, and immoral. So you can imagine all the different problems that would arise in a church there."

"God commands Abraham to sacrifice his only son and earl the next morning, Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. Sometimes the smallest actions are anchored in extraordinary faith. Abraham had woken up early and loaded his donkey a thousand times before that day. Loading his donkey was not usually an act of faith; it was an act of habit. This was a small, ordinary thing to everyone on the outside but to Abraham, in his anguish and anxiety, this was a pivotal moment. Loading his donkey was an act of faith. Here is the work that evidenced his faith in the character and promise of God."

"Labor is a gift from God, but toil is a result of sin. We toil six days a week, but God gives us the seventh for rest. That seventh day is a foreshadowing of the rest we will experience in glory. That seventh day keeps in mind, every week, that we are sojourners in this land. We are aliens here; this world is not our home. We await a better country, a heavenly one, and we await it with eager expectation."

It's God who saves, and anything is possible with God. The Rich Young Ruler was saying he's the perfect candidate for discipleship, he wasn't a tax collector, he kept all the commandments, he was teachable. But all the while he was trying to get it for himself. The only answer to the question: "How does one become a disciple?" Is reliance upon God. The failure of the Rich Young Ruler was not his wealth, but his refusal to rely upon God.

God loves you and He shares your sorrows. God is glorified as we endure and fulfill His purposes in our pain. We can endure because we know that a day is coming when He will right all wrongs, and the proof is Jesus Himself. You see, He wept among us so that He could wipe every tear from our eyes. He was laid in a tomb, but nobody had to remove the stone from His. They had to take off Lazarus’ grave clothes for him but Jesus folded his linens up and said “Thank you for the stay, but I’ll be leaving now.” When Jesus asked where Lazarus was, they showed Him a corpse but when Mary asked where Jesus was, He tapped her on the shoulder and said “Mary, it’s Me!” Jesus won the fight at Lazarus’ tomb, and won the war at His own.

"Isn't it amazing that God's design for perfection included giving us the power to choose? We are fighting a battle day in and day out whether we know it or not; it is not a battle against spouse or children or coworkers or family members, but with the evil one. He will convince you that you don't have a chance in the world of being righteous. He will convince you that you are already defeated. God has equipped us with everything we need and is using you as His servant. So choose to be strong in the Lord, choose to put on the full armor of God so that you may be able to stand firm in the day of adversity."

"The Church has always been in need of repair. You will not find a perfect church. You will find churches full of sinners, and you and I are among them. God calls me and you to love those sinners, that community. Even though we are imperfect, God takes pleasure in the stones and dust of His church."

Christianity is about a resurrected appetite for God.

"Those decisions we make of dying to ourselves make us who we are."

"Jesus comes to that city that we all have, to the inner expanse of our minds and hearts and feelings, and rides humbly into our souls."

Jesus says that He, the Holy Spirit, will guide us into all truth. Into ALL truth. Not just some truth, or a truth, but ALL truth."

"Being a Christian is about experiencing God's salvation. That's what a Christian is."

"He became sin for us! Not any sin, but my sin! Your sin! In its ugliness, in its darkness, He became sin for us! The perfect Son of God took on our sin! He is the Lamb of God who takes on the sacrifice for us."

"Christianity at times hurts. Taking up the cross is no fun. But we are to be imitators of our Lord Jesus, we are to be imitators of God."

"Before Abraham was, Jesus is."

"The Trinity is to be experienced in it's fullness. There's been times in the church when the emphasis has been on one or two persons in the Trinity, but we need balance, because they are all there and they are all equal."

"God is involved (even in exile) He has not walked away. I still believe in a God who can intervene."

"I don't know where you are in your spiritual walk, but we need to assess if we as the church in America are in exile, or if you, personally, are in exile. The word spoken to those in Exile is from our text in Isaiah 40. They are words of hope."

"What soldiers do when they are in trouble is call in firepower; They can't fight themselves, they haven't got the strength, but they call in the artillery, and that takes them through. Prayer is calling in the spiritual artillery. You and I aren't strong enough in ourselves, but God is!"

"Everybody has a theology, because a theology is what you believe about God. Theology, what we believe about God, intersects with everything we believe about everything else. What you believe about God impacts how you live your life, even in the small, mundane, ordinary things. How we do our work is how we worship."

"We do not live in two worlds. We do not have two lives. There is but one life, and if you are a believer, it is a Christian life lived before God. Christianity is not doing religious stuff; it is living a life before God at all times."

"What does headship involve? It involves giving yourself up fully to your wife; being concerned, interested, careful to look after her needs. To care for her as much as you care for yourself. What does submission involve? Respect, trust, and following the leader's lead."

"Put on kindness! Put on these good things! Do the opposite of what you might be tempted to do in your anger. Do the absolute opposite, and it will kill the negative anger in your heart." 

"This is what the church led by the apostles of Jesus Christ looked like in the days after His ascension; it looked like real, authentic, intentional, vulnerable, honest, genuine, sincere community. They opened their hearts to each other. They rejoiced together, and they mourned together. Not consumption, but community."

"The Bible gives encouragement and warning. If there is no life change, sorry about this, but it is what the scripture says; if there is no life change, you're not a believer. You're not saved, and not going to receive eternal life. I want an easy life, but the Bible doesn't say that! 

"Avoid situations that will bring you down. Don't think that you can do it and God will give you strength, He says 'If you go too close, I'm not giving you any strength!. I'll give you strength not to go too close! That's what you need."

"If you want to build character, if you want to be different, think differently, feel differently, and then you will act differently."

"Use your gift! All of us have different gifts that we are called to use, and that brings together that unity. When we have that unity of purpose, we come together to be one and build up the church, and bring glory to Jesus Christ."

"God loves us. He is Father, He is sovereign, but He loves us, and He is powerful enough to do something about it. He cares! The greatest thing in life is that you are loved, and that you know you are loved." Psalm 63:3-4  Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands.

"Paul doesn't have a 'poor me' story. Rather. he thinks in the context of God. Here is someone who has found the secret, who is in on the mystery, who is passionate for the gospel."

"Our unity and identity is found in Christ. We are one in Christ Jesus. We have been brought together. Jesus Christ has brought down the dividing wall, stop rebuilding it."

"Our eternal life begins now. You who were dead, have been raised. Christianity is not a Do-It-Yourself Job, it is something Christ does in us."

"The Church is more than an institution. It is that radical relationship with the Living God who has shown Himself in Jesus Christ. Who has shown He is not an institution, but He is the center of the institution. We need that relationship."

"Standing at the cross brings together what Paul calls 'being in Christ'. That's the spot to stand to make sense of what God is doing and to experience what God is doing."

"We are agents of God's intended order. We are agents of the Kingdom of God. We are agents of His redemptive, restorative, re-conciliatory work on this planet." Pastor Brian explains exhorts the congregation on fulfilling our purpose within the Kingdom of God.

"The Church is meant to be an illustration of what God wants to do with all of society".

"Very often Christians and non-Christians are in entrenched positions. They shoot their words every now and again at one another, but they never meet, they never speak, they never listen. I want to say this morning that we, as Church, are called to go into No-Man's-Land; to speak to the people around us, and get to know the people around us."