01 - Turning Pain Into Gain 2010 By Pastor Jeff Wickwire Notes (1)

PIERCING THE DARKNESS

Part 1

“Turning Pain into Gain”

8/1/10

Exodus 3: 7-8

Notice what God says: He had seen the misery of the people.

He had heard them crying out because of their bondage. He was concerned about their suffering.

Many people wonder if God cares about their pain. Or if He even knows about it.

These passages shouts—YES!

He sees, he hears, and He is concerned about the suffering.

We find the same thing when three angelic beings approached Abraham one day concerning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.

They said to him, “The cries of the victims in Sodom and Gomorrah are deafening; the sin of those cities is immense. I'm going down to see for myself, see if what they're doing is as bad as it sounds. Then I'll know."—Gen. 18:19-21

Hear that? THE CRIES OF THE VICTIMS ARE DEAFENING.

God saw, heard, and cared about the people.

Now, what about us? What does God see when he looks down at the Fort Worth area?

Are cries coming out of our city toward heaven?

IN 2009:

Murder--40

Rape--364

Robbery--1444

Agg Assault--2404

Violent Crime--4252

Burglary--9993

Larceny/Theft--23,826

Auto Theft--2125

Property Crime—35,944

Total Crimes—80,392

That’s almost 100,000 victims of crime.

And every Sunday we church folks drive right by all this pain and then back by it again on the way home.

What is God’s answer?

God raises up people to meet the need.

For His children in Egypt He raised up Moses and Aaron.

But in answer to the cries ascending to God right now, His answer is in this sanctuary.

So I want to look now at what the Bible says about you and me—the church.

First:

He has prepared us for this time in history:

“For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”—Eph. 2:10

God has prepared us for good works, and has prepared the good works for us.

For instance, on learning of Haman’s plan to exterminate the Jewish people, Mordecai told Queen Esther,

“For if you keep silent at this time…you and your father's house will perish. Who knows but that you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this and for this very occasion?”—Est. 4:14

You were born in God’s time, saved in God’s time, and have been prepared for God’s time to take a stand for Christ.

We have “come to the kingdom for such a time as this.”

We were not saved by good works, but we were saved for good works.

He has PREPARED you!

Secondly:

He has purposed you:

God purposed before time began that we would walk in His will.

What is His purpose? Simple: it is to obey the Father:

“If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love.”—John 15:10

There are many other things that have to do with our purpose, but they all flow out of the ultimate purpose of simply obeying the FATHER.

He has prepared you, and purposed you. And thirdly, He has decreed that your:

Pain will be turned into gain:

As a believer you will suffer. You will suffer either:

for doing wrong

for doing right

for no apparent reason

But God has decreed that your pain will be turned to gain.

One of the ways pain is turned to gain is through God comforting you in your suffering:

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.”—2 Cor. 1: 3-4

Notice the “SO THAT” in this passage. God comforts us—not just for us, but “SO THAT” we can bring comfort to others.

You see, The devil adds pain on top of pain. There is nothing redemptive in what the devil does.

He comes ONLY to kill, steal, and destroy.

He increases and multiplies pain, ultimately in an attempt to destroy the afflicted.

But God turns pain into gain by comforting us when we hurt, and then opening a door for us to share that comfort with others.

Paul told the Corinthians:

“Therefore we have been comforted in your comfort.”—2 Cor. 7:13

Paul said, This is the way it works…

“For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows out…”—2 Cor. 1

Sufferings come in, but comfort overflows out of the believer who has experienced God’s comforts!

Be sure to use your comforts for others!

God transforms suffering people into comforters. He brings gain out of pain!

Remember the cries that arose out of Egypt?

God said, “I see the suffering, I hear the moans and cries, and I care.”

And God hears the cries arising out of all the neighborhoods we pass on the way to church!

And He says, “Now, go and tell them how I comforted you when you were experiencing the very same thing!”

The Greek word for comfort is “parakaleó.” PARA—MEANS “ALONGSIDE.” And KALEO means “called to.”

So comfort literally means, “Called to stand alongside.”

It is the same word Jesus used when describing the Holy Spirit as the COMFORTER.

Christians are called to “stand alongside” the hurting.

Witnessing doesn’t mean you go out there and win an argument about God.

It doesn’t mean you are supposed to go debate everybody, though that might happen sometimes.

Witnessing is best when you say, “This is how God through Jesus Christ comforted me.

I lost my marriage, my money, my job, my kids, my health…

I went through all kinds of hell, disappointment, pain and sorrow.

And God comforted me. He came alongside and helped me.

And He can do the same for you!

So when you come down to the altar on a Sunday morning and God comforts you, go share it!

When you come to church and the Word comforts you, or the Spirit of God ministers comfort to you, go share it!

God’s comforts are given for distribution.

No one can comfort others like the comforted can.

Comforted people comfort people.

This is how God turns pain into gain.

That is how pain is transformed into gain.

“…if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance…”—vs. 6

God has prepared us, purposed us, and turns our pain into gain.

But He doesn’t stop there:

He also transforms pain into power:

“If we are…comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer.”—vs. 6

Paul testifies that when he shared God’s comforts with others, it PRODUCED in them the power to endure the same things!

I have noticed that I always come out of trials with a stronger anointing, greater effectiveness, and greater compassion for others.

On the day of Pentecost, the power of God fell upon 120 suffering, broken hearted people who turned around and changed the world!

God has prepared us, purposed us, turns pain into gain, transforms pain into power, and finally:

He transforms suffering into Passion:

No one has compassion on others like those who have gone through great pain, and then experienced the comforts of God.

ILLUS: