Topic: SUFFERING FOR CHRIST AND THE CHURCH
Bible Text: 2 Corinthians 11:21b-30
“Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.” 2 Corinthians 11:28, NIV
MESSAGE
“Li Cha Mi, a Chinese preacher, once said at a conference, ‘You have all heard of my sufferings during the past few months. I wish to say that these sufferings were very slight. It was easy to endure pain when I could feel that I bore it for Christ. It is wonderful, I cannot explain it. When attacked by the robbers and beaten almost to death, I felt no pain.
Their blows did not seem to hurt me at all. Heaven seemed to open, and I thought I saw Jesus waiting to receive me… since that time… Persecutions trouble me not. I forget all my sorrows when I think of Jesus. I call nothing on earth my own… The fiercer the trial, the better for my soul.”
From yesterday’s study, we discovered how Paul did look upon his hardship and trials as acts of service for Christ, whom he loved. The suffering for Christ is also suffering for the Church. Anything done for Christ is for the benefit and preservation of the Church.
*Whatever you go through as a result of your faith should not affect your faith in God, rather it should strengthen it. When you go through any form of persecution, remember that you are never alone.*
Insight: Suffering for Christ is suffering for the Church.
Prayer: LORD, count me worthy to suffer for You, if need be.
RBT Passage: Isaiah 25-28
