WWUTT 1667 This Light Momentary Affliction (2 Corinthians 4:13-18)

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You know that all the things that you go through in life, no matter how deep, no matter how difficult the trial, it is a momentary light affliction compared to the glory that were promised in Christ when we understand the text.

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This is When We Understand the Text, a daily Bible study in the word of Christ that men and women of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

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Tell your friends about our ministry at www .utt .com. Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe.

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Thank you, Becky. We come back to our study in 2 Corinthians chapter 4, picking up where we left off yesterday.

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So I'm going to start reading in verse 13. We'll go to verse 18 out of the Legacy Standard Bible. This is the word of the

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Lord through the Apostle Paul writing to the church in Corinth. But having the same spirit of faith, according to what is written,

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I believed, therefore I spoke. We also believe, therefore we also speak, knowing that He who raised the

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Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and will present us with you.

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For all things are for your sakes, so that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God.

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Therefore, we do not lose heart. But though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.

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For our momentary light affliction is working out for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison.

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While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.

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For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

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Man, what a great section of Scripture. Great section of 2 Corinthians and of the

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Bible altogether. This is such an encouraging thing. So keeping in mind the things that we talked about yesterday or considered yesterday out of 2

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Corinthians chapter 4, we talked about, I'm talking and you're listening, but you know, you get what it is that I'm saying.

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So in verse 13, we have the same spirit of faith according to what is written.

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I believe therefore I spoke. We also believe therefore we also speak.

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Okay. So Paul is talking about how we have the same faith, the faith that the apostles have.

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Paul has, the other apostles have, the fellow missionaries with Paul. This faith that we have is the same faith that you have.

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The faith that you have. Paul saying to the Corinthians, you have it because the gospel was proclaimed to you.

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You have come to believe this because it was spoken to you according to what is written.

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And there's an Old Testament reference here. I believed therefore I spoke.

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That's a reference to Psalm 116. And interestingly enough, the context of that verse,

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Psalm 116 verse 10, it's spoken in the midst of affliction. What's Paul talking about here?

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The faith that we have in God in the midst of affliction. We go back up to verse 8, in every way afflicted, but not crushed, perplexed, but not despairing, persecuted, but not forsaken, struck down, but not destroyed.

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Always caring about in the body, the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body, right?

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In verse 12, so death works in us, but life in you. But having the same spirit of faith, according to what is written,

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I believed, therefore I spoke, that's Psalm 116. We also believe, therefore we also speak.

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And Paul is talking about believing in the midst of affliction. Speaking in the midst of affliction.

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So here's Psalm 116. I'm going to read verse 8 through verse 10.

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So you hear the context here. For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling.

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I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living. I believed, even when

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I spoke, I am greatly afflicted. So in the midst of affliction, the psalmist believes.

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The psalmist has faith in God. The affliction does not cause him to doubt and despair.

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He continues to entrust himself to the Lord. And so he speaks. He believes, and the manifestation of that belief is him speaking.

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He speaks to God. He says to God, I am afflicted. If a person did not believe

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God was there, would they call out to God in the midst of their affliction? You can call out to God in your affliction.

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It doesn't mean that you doubt. It means, you know, he's there even in the midst of this affliction.

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You might be perplexed as Paul again said back in verse 8, you're perplexed but you don't despair.

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Because of your faith in Christ who has overcome, who has died for us and rose from the dead.

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We have this spirit of faith according to what is written. I believed therefore I spoke.

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We also believe Paul says just like Psalm 116. I believe in the midst of my affliction and so therefore

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I speak in the midst in the midst of my affliction. Knowing verse 14 now 2nd

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Corinthians 414 knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and will present us with you.

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This goes back to chapter 1 2nd Corinthians 1 9 where Paul at the beginning of the letter says that God is the the father of mercies and the

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God of all comfort and in verse 9, we believe that we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not have confidence in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead these things happen to us that we would be reminded to not rely on ourselves, but we would rely on God who raises the dead

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Paul comes back to that again here in chapter 4 verse 14. We know that he who raised the

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Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and will present us with you because the faith you have is the same faith that we have the faith that we have proclaimed to you is the faith that you have believed and because you have believed you will be raised as we will be raised and we will be presented with God in Christ who will raise us also he who was raised from the dead will raise us and we will be presented together before God.

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So the things that Paul goes through he has said earlier in the letter we go through these things for your benefit.

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We are comforted for your comfort were afflicted and even this is for your comfort so that you may continue to grow in this faith that we have in Jesus Christ to the praise of his glorious grace.

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We believe and we speak knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and will present us with you.

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So verse 15 for all things are for your sakes everything that we go through is for your sake the persecutions the tribulations the despair that well

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I was going to say the despairs but earlier Paul says we don't despair. Okay, all of those things the being perplexed but not despairing all of these things we go through for your sake

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Paul says all things are for your sake we have we've put ourselves on the line we have risked our lives so that you may hear the gospel and believe and be saved now

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I want to I want to bring this back into context here. So we're not just hearing the section that we're reading today, but remember that Paul is contending against false teachers.

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There are false apostles that have come into Corinth and have convinced

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Some of the Corinthians that they are superior apostles to Paul. They preach themselves.

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So that was what Paul was addressing earlier in the chapter when he said that that we do not preach ourselves, but we commend ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.

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They preach themselves. We don't we're preaching Christ. That's what we came to you doing.

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That's what we risked our lives to do that. We would proclaim Christ to you. He who died and rose again from the dead so that all who believe in him will not perish under the judgment of God that is coming against every sinner.

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Everyone who is rebelled against God, which is every single person. The judgment of God is coming against all those who have done unrighteousness.

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We only have righteousness through faith in Christ. This is what Paul came proclaiming to the

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Corinthians so that they would believe. He believed this gospel so much that he would risk his life for others to hear it.

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So that they would believe and be saved. We've done all of this for your sake.

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What do these super apostles do? And that's that's the sarcastic term that Paul has for them when we get to chapter 11.

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The super apostles did they risk their lives for you? No, no, they didn't.

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They've done this for themselves. They puff up themselves. They have these long resumes.

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What was it? The letters of commendation that we read about in chapter 3, right? They wear these flashy garments.

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They've got these great smiles. They've got booming oratory voices. Paul's going to talk about how his presence was even rather weak.

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Chapter 10 verse 10. He writes weighty things in his letters, but his presence is nothing to write home about.

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That's kind of the that's the Gabe version of of 2nd 2nd Corinthians 1010.

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I'm giving you the Gabe paraphrase there. So anyway, so so Paul doesn't come proclaiming himself.

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He doesn't come boasting in himself. He doesn't come to puff himself up. He does all things for their sakes.

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The super apostles do all that they do for their for their own sakes. Paul is doing this for the benefit of the

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Corinthians. All things are for your sakes so that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God.

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So more people who come into the kingdom of God, this is all to his glory. Paul is not doing it for his own glory.

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He is doing it for God's glory and the Corinthians get to share in that Glory this same faith the same faith.

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We have is the faith that you have this faith that we proclaim is the faith that you have been given by the

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Holy Spirit who is who has brought you to belief in this and we talked about that yesterday consider that yesterday with God being the one who has given us this knowledge of himself of his glory so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves that was in verse 7 that we read yesterday.

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So all things are for your sakes so that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God everybody who is a believer in Christ who has come to this faith because the gospel was proclaimed to them.

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Who is it that they're praising do they praise Paul or Peter or Apollo's some of those, you know, the the guys that Paul had mentioned back in 1st

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Corinthians chapter 1 is that who the people praise no praising glory is not given unto them.

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It's given to God. It's given to Christ. And the more people that are added into the kingdom.

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There's the abounding of thanks that is given to the glory of God these super apostles where where does where do they want glory to go?

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They want glory to go to themselves. And there are so many parallels here between this this contending for the hearts of the

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Corinthians this shutting down the word of these super apostles that they would recognize those super apostles as false teachers.

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Okay, there's so many parallels between this and the false teaching that is trying to win us today.

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Like there's those false teachers out there. They just puff themselves up. I was reminded recently of Rick Warren the purpose -driven life the book that he wrote best -selling book in the world after the

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Bible best -selling nonfiction book. I think I think it's the the second best -selling book in the world after the

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Bible. If I remember that right, you know where I got that statistic from Incidentally, I got it from Rick Warren because man he just boasts about his book how many languages it's been translated into how many copies it has sold all this wonderful stuff.

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The book has been able to accomplish at the beginning of the purpose -driven life. He says it's not about you.

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But if you were to take that phrase out of the purpose -driven life, you would think from what

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Warren has written in the rest of the book that it is about you because he certainly makes everything about himself.

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Every time I hear Rick Warren, he puffs himself up over and over and over again. This is a guy that is all about him.

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He is not about giving. Thanks to the glory of God. He is all about himself and telling people how it can be all about you too.

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If you would just do this, it'd be all about you. Steven Furtick another one of those guys man, this guy literally pounds his chest and says

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I am God Almighty. He is actually declared that in a sermon and what else needs to be said

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Steven Furtick is egotism to the max. One of the most puffed up preachers that I have ever heard

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Joyce Meyer a running resume of herself. In fact, I've I've heard John MacArthur say beware of teachers who are the heroes of all their own stories and Joyce Meyer excels at this.

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She is the hero of all of her stories. Beth Moore same thing because Beth Moore takes her cues from Joyce Meyer Meyer is somebody that Beth Moore admires and and so therefore has followed in her steps.

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You listen to Beth Moore stories. She's the hero of all of her stories. You have these preachers just constantly puff themselves up.

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They preach themselves. They draw all the focus to themselves. The praise and the thanks is not abounding to the glory of God.

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After the word of these false teachers, so just as Paul has to contend for the hearts of these

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Corinthians so that they would not walk after the false teachers. So we see Mary many parallels to that same thing going on today.

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Many false teachers who attempt to lead you astray who want to get your praise for themselves and not to the glory of God.

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But what was what was Paul doing? What was he ministering for? He was willing to put his own life on the line for God's glory and not his own.

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This is all the the the abounding of thanks to the glory of God verse 16

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Paul says therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying yet.

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Our inner man is being renewed day by day. This goes back to the earth and vessels that we had read about yesterday.

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Verse 7 we have this treasure in earth and vessels. What's the treasure Christ? What's the earth and vessel our own mortality, but we have

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Christ in these mortal bodies. God who dwells with us the Holy Spirit who lives within us so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not of ourselves the knowledge that we have the glory of God has been given to us in Christ.

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Therefore, we do not lose heart though. Our outer man our earth and vessel is decaying yet.

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Our inner man is being renewed day by day. And how is the inner man being renewed? It's being renewed by Christ by the

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Holy Spirit Paul says in Colossians chapter 3 that we are to put off the old self and all the manner of unrighteousness that we did before we came to faith in Christ and we need to put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after our creator.

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Romans 12 to do not be conformed to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

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It's from that verse that R .C. Sproul started his ministry renewing your mind renew your mind.

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How do we have this renewing of mind? It is that we grow in the knowledge of Christ day by day.

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And this is something that is accomplished a power that is at work within us not by our doing but by God's doing that we would conform our minds to Christ that we would desire

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God that we pursue righteousness and flee the passions of the flesh the temptations of the world the schemes of Satan we are after Christ and his righteousness and our mind is being renewed for this day by day.

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Tomorrow, you are a little bit more for Christ than you were yesterday. You can probably look back at who you were at your baptism and you think of that person.

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Wow, what an immature believer they were. But how mature a believer I am of Christ today, how much more mature

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I am and we're not totally there yet, but we're we we are coming into this renewal day by day.

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And then Paul says in verse 17, and this is this is one of the most astounding statements in Scripture for me.

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I'm going to come back to it again tomorrow to for our momentary light affliction is working out for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison.

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All the things that we go through in this life are momentary and light. That's astonishing, especially when you consider who this is coming from Paul is going to lay out in chapter 10 all of the of the struggles and persecutions that he goes through and what he's been through is probably far more than you or I have ever been through combined all the stuff that Paul had to go through for the preaching the gospel you and I won't go through that.

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And yet he refers to the sufferings that he has endured as momentary light afflictions.

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So my friends, whatever illness that you have to go through, whatever betrayal you have endured, whatever heartbreak you have disappointment any of these other things, whatever you struggle with in this life, whatever trial you are facing its momentary.

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It's only going to last this life. It's light. Compared to the eternal weight of glory that we are promised in Christ.

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So don't be don't be crushed. Don't be despairing.

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You're not forsaken. You will not be destroyed in Christ Jesus. All of these things that we go through in this life.

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They are momentary and they are light. What a weight of glory.

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We have been blessed with in Christ. If we have faith in him, it is beyond all comparison trying to lift the ocean does not even compare.

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To the glory that were given the glory that were promised in Christ that we will enjoy with him for all eternity.

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And so we remember these promises that we may go through these things. We and not lose heart.

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Our outer man is decaying, but the inner man is being renewed day by day. And as Paul said to the Philippians Philippians 1 6,

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I'm a confident of this that he who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it at the day of Christ.

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And so verse 18, we look not at the things which are seen our focus is not on the things that are before us in the world, but we look at the things which are not seen the things that are seen are temporal everything physical that we can set our physical eyes upon.

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They're all wasting away just like our outer man. All of these things are temporal, but the things which are not seen those things that are of God, the things that are of Christ, those things are eternal.

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Folks, the false teachers will promise you the stuff of this world, the things that are temporal, the things that don't last, the things that are wasting away, but the true teachers will promise you those things that last forever in Christ Jesus and so we understand the word of Christ in Matthew 6 31 seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness things that are not seen and all the things that you need in these bodies in which we live will be added to you as well.

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God is taking care of us even in the midst of these afflictions continue to trust

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Christ and this light momentary affliction won't even compare to the weight of Glory that we inherit in Eternity Heavenly Father.

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Thank you for this good word today and may it renew our minds may renew our hope may we be cautious not to go after those false teachers that promise us the world, but we go after the truth of Christ promised in his word the eternal weight of Glory that we have in Christ Jesus that far surpasses anything that could be promised us on Earth.

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May we continue to cling to those promises today in Jesus name. We pray. Amen. Thank you for listening to when we understand the text with Pastor Gabe Hughes.

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