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Down But Not Out • Sermon • Submitted
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· 10 viewsAs believers, we are called to be ministers. While doing ministry, we face hardships that we have never faced and have the tendency to want to give up and quit. God has placed something valuable in us to do His will and to continue pressing forward in the ministry.
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“Down But Not Out”
“Down But Not Out”
As believers, God has called us to this ministry by his mercy to compel lost souls to him. It is rewarding when one is capable of speaking to others while lives are being changed and souls converted to Christ. It brings joy, honor and is a great feeling to know you are a part of such transformation.
But I have learned that in ministry, heartache is inevitable. Ministry can be contrasting: while it can bring you light, it can bring you darkness; while it can bring you joy, it can bring you sorrow; while it can bring you tears of joy, it can bring you tears of sadness; while it can bring you friends, it can bring you enemies.
Paul makes it clear that in this ministry, we must put away all shameful secrets, we must walk circumspectly among men. We must be truthful to every man and we must preach the Lord, not ourselves.
Paul is letting us know that while being in ministry, trials are going to come. Yet we must understand that in the midst of trials, God has prepared us.
First, Paul says in verse 7, But we have this treasure in earthen vessels. Paul in this text is referring to the children of God as earthen vessels. We are clay pots, clay containers. We have cracks in us, we are breakable, we are perishable, we are fragile.
God knows that by ourselves we are worthless, we can’t function, we can’t think right, we can’t act right and we will fail. Because of our imperfections, God had to place something in us, This Treasure.
1.You need to know the value of what God has placed in you. Some of us want to quit sometimes because we don’t know how much God has invested in you. Understand God did not place this treasure in us for ownership, but for guardianship. What Paul is saying is although we the container is relatively worthless, the contents that God has placed in us are priceless.
2. We must understand this treasure placed in us is to reveal to us and others the power of the Almighty God. Because we are fragile and relatively insignificant, people can clearly recognize that the transforming power of the gospel is God’s alone and that our strength to endure hardship comes from God alone.