The following post is a study that I prepared for an Adirondack Pastor's Fellowship in 2020. I also preached a sermon series largely based on this outline at Pioneer Bible Church in 2023. I am revisiting these truths as I grieve my Dad's passing. I pray this can help fellow sufferers and those ministering to … Continue reading A Brief Theology of Suffering
Yesterday, I posted some reflections on 2 Corinthians 1:3-7. Below is a prayer from that same text. Father of mercies and God of All Comfort, Blessed be your name because you comfort us in all our afflictions through Christ. Whatever the affliction, no matter the pressure, you comfort us in all kinds of trouble. This … Continue reading A Prayer from 2 Corinthians 1:3-7
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we … Continue reading God Comforts Us In All Our Affliction
For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 2 Timothy 4:6–7 The setting was stunning in the most negative sense. Paul was in a dark, cold, dirty pit … Continue reading Poured Out For Christ
In my last post, I discussed that there are different kinds of grief. Each kind of grief is different. A person can only know the grief of losing a father when they have personally experienced it. It is only in walking the darkness of that particular valley that a person can truly understand it. The … Continue reading Shared Grief
Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him;God is a refuge for us. Selah (Psalms 62:8) Here is comfort and hope for all of God’s people, especially those enduring hardship. David was facing affliction when he wrote this Psalm, as seen in verses three and four: How long will … Continue reading Psalm 62:8 – Pour Out Your Heart
For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. 1 Peter 2:21 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but … Continue reading Christ Also Suffered
One of the things I have learned from suffering in my journey with depression is the need to be real with God and yourself. I have learned this in the Psalms. Psalms 42 and 43 are good examples. The Psalmist says, "I say to God, my rock: ‘Why have you forgotten me?'" (42:9a). God despises … Continue reading Be Honest with God and Yourself
The following post is a study that I prepared for an Adirondack Pastor's Fellowship in 2020. If any of you from that fellowship read this, please know that I love and miss you! 1. The suffering of Christ has brought us to God (1 Peter 3:18; Isaiah 53:5-7) For Christ also suffered once for sins, … Continue reading A Brief Theology of Suffering
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