sf292 - Pictures Of Pain
@PAGE NUMBER = SF292
@TITLE = PICTURES OF PAIN
@LEVEL ONE = INTRODUCTION
@LEVEL FOUR = The mind of man is not a debating hall; it is a picture gallery.
@LEVEL FOUR = Our thinking and felling revolves around certain pictures, or metaphors.
@LEVEL TWO = Why?
@LEVEL FOUR = Metaphors help us handle (illustrate) complex experiences ‑ "The Storms of Life"
@LEVEL FOUR = Metaphors help us to interpret life ‑ understand life
@LEVEL TWO = The Bible is filled with pictures of pain
@LEVEL ONE = 1A. THE FURNACE
@SCRIPTURE = ISA 48:10<R>See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.
@LEVEL TWO = There Is Always A Purpose In Suffering
@LEVEL FOUR = To test our ore ‑ to refine us
@LEVEL FOUR = To prove the genuineness of our relationship with God
@LEVEL ONE = 2A. THE STORM
@SCRIPTURE = PSA 148:8<R>lightning and hail, snow and clouds, stormy winds that do his bidding,
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@LEVEL TWO = 1B. God Controls All Storms
@LEVEL TWO = 2B. Some Storms We Bring On Ourselves (Jonah)
@LEVEL TWO = 3B. Some Storms God Sends For Our Own Good
@LEVEL TWO = 4B. God Often Speaks To Us Out Of The Storm (Job)
@LEVEL ONE = 3A. WARFARE
@SCRIPTURE = 2TI 2:3<R>Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus.
@LEVEL TWO = 1B. By Our Disobedience We Declare War On God
@SCRIPTURE = JAM 4:4<R>You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.
@LEVEL TWO = 2B. God Permits Battles In Order To Discipline And Equip Us For Service
@LEVEL TWO = 3B. God Promises Not To Shelter Us From But Strength For The Battle
@ILL TITLE = PHILLIPS BROOKS
@ILL TEXT = Do not pray for easy lives, Pray to be stronger men. Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks.
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@LEVEL ONE = 4A. THE HARVEST
@LEVEL TWO = 1B. We Reap What We Sow In Proportion As We Sow
@SCRIPTURE = 2CO 9:6<R>Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.
@LEVEL TWO = 2B. Future Results Compensate For Present Difficulties
@SCRIPTURE = JOH 12:24<R>I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.
@LEVEL TWO = 3B. It Is The Fruitful Branches That God Prunes
@SCRIPTURE = JOH 15:2<R>He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.
@LEVEL ONE = 5A. TRAVAIL AND BIRTH
@SCRIPTURE = ROM 8:22<R>We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.
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@LEVEL TWO = 1B. The Same Baby That Helps Bring The Pain Also Brings The Joy
@LEVEL FOUR = Christ gives us joy, not by substitution, but by transformation
@LEVEL TWO = 2B. Just As There Can Be No Birth Without Travail, There Can Be No Glory Without Suffering
@SCRIPTURE = ROM 8:18<R>I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
@LEVEL ONE = 6A. RUNNING THE RACE
@SCRIPTURE = HEB 12:1<R>Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
@LEVEL TWO = 1B. We Are Competing With Ourselves Not Each Other
@LEVEL TWO = 2B. The Race Is Not Easy
@LEVEL TWO = 3B. Far More Important Than Winning Is Being The Kind Of Person Who Can Win.
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@LEVEL ONE = CONCLUSION
@LEVEL TWO = 1. God has not promised to make us comfortable ‑ He has determined to make us conformable.
@LEVEL FOUR = He keeps his eye on the thermostat!
@LEVEL TWO = 2. The battles of life are not easy, but God has given the equipment to succeed.
@LEVEL FOUR = Each victory prepares us for the next.
@LEVEL TWO = 3. We need patience. The harvest doesn't come immediately.
@LEVEL FOUR = He doesn't bury us, He plants us!
@LEVEL TWO = 4. Times of travail can be times of birth.
@LEVEL FOUR = Today's suffering can mean tomorrow's glory.
@LEVEL TWO = 5. Even the storms can fulfill His will.
@LEVEL TWO = 6. Yield to the pruning knife; it will make you more fruitful.
@LEVEL TWO = Pictures Of Pain
@LEVEL FOUR = Self pity ‑ Mirrors in which you see only yourself
@LEVEL FOUR = Trust in Christ ‑ Windows through which you will see God.
@LEVEL TWO = It Is Your Choice!