and it got to be extended so I saved this part for later. But the subject I came up with was Blessings of Affliction and I thought that was a creative title and then I started studying up on it and thought where do I cover that. We don't have to bless our afflictions, we just have to look at them and see how it is and understand them. The first testimony is 518. Is the mic on? I'll try to be louder. In 1 Thessalonians 5.18, the Bible says, And everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Now, if God asks us to give thanks for everything, and he's including afflictions in that, then there must be a blessing in there somewhere. So we need to look at it and see where that is. Now, we often suffer from affliction. We can call it tribulation, of God or persecution, but whatever name we give to it, there's some kind of suffering involved, and it's never a pleasant thing to go through. So we have to see where it's a blessing. If you look in Hebrews 12, verse 11, it says, Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous. Nevertheless, afterward, it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. So we're not going to enjoy any chastisement, any tribulation or problems we go through, but in the end we gain from it. So we just have to see where that is. The Bible gives many stories to do with people being afflicted. You have Joseph, Job, Jonah, Paul and Jesus. You also have David and a few others. If we look at their lives, we can learn a great deal about what suffering is all about and what it does for us. Now Joseph was his father's favorite son. and his brothers hated him for it. And one day his dad sent Joseph to check on his brothers, and the first thing he did was grab him and throw him in a pit. That would be bad enough. But some of them wanted to kill him, and the rest decided it was better to make a profit off of him, so they sold him as a slave. And Joseph's troubles continued. Well, as a slave, he was an excellent servant to the man that bought him. And he made the man to prosper and everything went well until the man's wife accused him of attacking her. Well, the man was so mad he didn't bother to investigate. He didn't check anything out. He just threw Joseph in prison. In prison, Joseph was such a model prisoner, he was put in charge of all prison businesses. He took care of everything for the prison. And while there, he met Pharaoh's baker and butler. And they had dreams and they bothered them. Joseph was able to tell them what those dreams meant. For the baker it wasn't good news. But for the butler it was very good news. And all that Joseph asked was that the butler remember to tell the Pharaoh what good Joseph had done and that he was there falsely accused and he wanted to get out of there. That was all Joseph asked as a reward. Well, the butler forgot about him for two years, and then Pharaoh had a dream. Well, at that point, the butler thought he'd make a little profit from his knowledge, so he told Pharaoh about Joseph, because Joseph could interpret the dream. All that Joseph went through would have been discouraging for us and terrible. We wouldn't see how that would benefit anybody. But in the end, because Joseph didn't blame God for anything, and he suffered without complaint to God, he was made the second most powerful man in the world. Pretty good promotion for a slave. When we think of tribulation or affliction or anything, we always think of Job. And that's a good reason, because Job lost all he owned, he lost his children, and he lost his reputation. His friend came to company and then they told him that he was a terribly wicked man and he deserved much greater punishment from God. And he should be happy that that's all he's gotten. Well, Job withstood Satan's attacks and his friend's vice, but his wife didn't do so good. In Job chapter 2 and verse 9, then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? Curse God and die! give up, nothing's going right for you, just get it over with. But Job's reply was clear, and he honored God. In the next verse, chapter 2, verse 10, But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women, speaketh. What? Shall we not receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? And all this did not Job send with his whisk. And after this, Job's wife is not mentioned, but we learn that she gave him seven more sons and three more daughters, to replace the ones he had lost. In Job 42, verse 7, we find out about his reputation a bit here. Job 42, 7, And it was so, that after the Lord had spoken these words unto Job, the Lord said unto him, Thou hast a human eye, and thy wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends. For ye have not spoken unto me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath. Verse 8, Therefore take unto you now seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering. And my servant Job shall pray for you for him like this, lest I deal with you after your folly, in that ye have not spoken of me the thing which is right, like my servant Job." Notice here, Elihu the fourth man is not mentioned. The pastor covered that one time. Elihu was not a servant of God, he was a servant of the devil. In verse 42, verse 9, Elias added to Timonite, and Bildad to Shuhite, and Zophar to Namathite, and went and did according as the Lord commanded them. The Lord also accepted Job. And the Lord turned the captivity of Job when he prayed for his friends. Also, the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. And you read there exactly how much he did give him, and it was twice as much. But all possessions were doubled, but his children were replaced with the same number. And there's no mystery in that, because we know that Job was reunited with them in heaven, and he'll be reunited physically in the rapture with them. So Job knew that, and he knew he had twice as many children, just as he had twice as much as everything else. As for his reputation, Job's friends were humble. They were straightly informed. They were not as good as Job. Flat out, they weren't as good. And Job was elevated above them, so his reputation was essentially doubled. And all his friends returned to him, and they gave him a reward. And as we said, Job was greatly blessed because he trusted God and didn't waver. And believers have been blessed for 3,000 years by Job's testimony. A blessing that we often fail to realize in our tribulations is that we are blessed when we glorify God. And Job greatly glorified God through his testimony. So he was greatly blessed. We get to Jonah. Jonah tried to flee from God because God told him to go to Nineveh and preach to them and turn them around. He didn't want to do that because he knew Nineveh was going to destroy Israel one day. So he thought he'd defeat God and just not do what God said. And then Nineveh would be destroyed because God wouldn't have anything else to do with him. So rather than obey God, he decided to find a ship and let him hide from God. The storm came up quickly, and he knew right away that he was in trouble. So he told the sailors, throw him into the sea. He could have turned to God right then, but he would rather die than do what God asked. So the sailors threw him into the sea, the giant fish swallowed him, and took him to Nineveh and spit him out. Right away the sailors knew that Joseph's God was God, because the storm stopped immediately. And the Ninevites, they worshipped everything. One of the things they worshipped was fish. So when a fish spit Jonah out on the shore, they were a little bit scared, a little worried. How did this happen? So Jonah, instead of being stubborn and defeating God's purpose, he served it. Because the people of Nineveh looked at Jonah and they were willing to listen. They paid attention because he came from a fish. And all the people of Nineveh, from the lowest slaves to the king, turned to God, the true God, and then of illustrator. So God used Jehovah's Rebellion and his infidelation and used it against him to serve his purpose. And here are different ways the Bible calls affliction as good for us. You go to Psalm 119. In verse 71, we see that affliction is a teacher. Psalm 119, verse 71. It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn my statutes. So in our suffering and in our troubles, we learn God's statutes. We learn His laws and we learn His principles. So affliction teaches us. We also learn that God protects the afflicted. In Psalms 140, verse 12. Psalm 140, verse 12. He says, I know that the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted and the right of the poor. In the New Testament, we see that God turns to the humble and away from the crowd. James 4.6. James 4.6. Could he giveth more grace, wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. You go a few pages further, you find 1 Peter 5. He says, Likewise ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder, yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility. For God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble." We'll go back further, back into the Old Testament when Balak hired Balaam to curse the Israelites. In Deuteronomy chapter 23 verse 5, So what happened from that? Deuteronomy 23 verse 5 says, Nevertheless, the Lord thy God would not hearken unto Balaam, but the Lord thy God turned the curse into a blessing unto thee, because the Lord thy God loved thee. So God will take care of the afflicted in different ways. In this case, he gave them a blessing. And we know that Jesus suffered more than anyone. him to suffer, so that he could pay for our sins by shedding his blood on the cross. The Father was glorified by the suffering of the Son, and now we have access to the Father and the promise of eternal life if we accept his sacrifice and turn from our sin and ask him to save us. Remember in the book of Job, Job's friends had to go to Job and ask Job to pray. Since Jesus sacrificed his life, we can go directly to God. We don't have to have somebody pray for us. We have access to God. So another blessing of our affliction, of His affliction, and we can't be saved by our affliction. No amount of trouble or persecution or anything is going to get us to heaven. But because Jesus suffered and was afflicted, we can get to heaven. Paid for us. Now, a generous portion of our suffering may not be for our own benefit. It may be for the blessing of others. And if this is the case in a particular affliction, then we will be blessed by being a blessing to others. Now, we don't see a monetary gain or certain gains from it, but we will be blessed because others are blessed. We have to realize what a benefit that is to us. who became Paul, persecuted the church with zealous fervor. He was all about destroying the Christians. He dealt out affliction in any way he could, but once he was converted to Christianity, he saved the church with the same energy, the same zealous fervor. And he suffered affliction just as he had inflicted it. And God gave him a new name to go with his new birth and his new role, because Paul became Paul. If you go to 2 Corinthians chapter 11, verse 23, there are several verses here that talk about Paul's suffering. 2 Corinthians chapter 11, starting in verse 23, this is Paul speaking. Are they ministers of Christ? I speak of the fool. I am more, and labor is more abundant and strikes above measure, and prison is more frequent, and death is off. Of the Jews, five times received I forty stripes, save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once with a stone, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep. In journeying Gotham, in perils of water, in perils of robbers, in perils by my own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren, in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches." Now all that list, hard enough to remember it, let alone suffer through it. But Paul counted the care of the church as a great burden, as a real problem. You need to remember that when you think of the pastor, Brother Kenny. The way the church is heavy on the shoulder of its leader, and all its temporal flock in its efforts to guide and protect it, the pastor has to answer to God for his efforts, and the result of his efforts, even the flock refuses to listen. So we need to listen to the pastor and do what we can to help him, and not rebel. That was a problem Paul had, if the Corinthian church wanted to rebel. Back to 2 Corinthians 11, verse 29, Paul says, Who is weak? And I am not weak. Who is offended? I bear not. Don't you think these things affect me? You're upset. Am I not upset? We often behave as though the pastor is unaffected by our tantrums and stubbornness. We think he never tires of our complaints. We keep coming to him with more complaints. Paul established many churches and he tried to guide them. But he wasn't taking pride in his achievements, he took pride in his sufferings. Paul certainly was afflicted, but he didn't quit. He continued to serve God, he counted to the blessing, and he didn't enjoy all the suffering all the time. He did ask God to relieve some of his suffering. In 2 Corinthians 12, verse 7, 2 Corinthians 12, 7, He said, Unless I should be exalted above measure to the abundance of the revelations, there is given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to beset me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord Christ, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in witness. Most heavily therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then am I strong." So Paul understood the purpose of affliction and he was good. Paul was a man who could get discouraged, but God encouraged him and he regained his sense of purpose pretty quickly. he had developed a little endearing sense of purpose. A little further back in 2 Corinthians 4, chapter 4, verse 17, it says, For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, brought us forth a far more exceeding and eternal way to glory. Paul called all his suffering light affliction. And it happens to him all the time, but he said it was but for a moment. So he wasn't stopped by all the trouble he had. He could have moaned and groaned about all his troubles, but he had better things to say. When he got to the Romans, he wrote them a nice letter and he told them all about a lot of things. Romans chapter 5, verse 1, it says, Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have access by faith into his grace when we sin and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 5. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also, knowing that tribulations work as patience, and patience experience, and experience hope." So people like to pray for patience, but what you're praying for is tribulation, because you're going to get it. Verse 5, Romans 5. 5. And hope maketh not a shame, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly." And verse 9, then, "...much more than being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him." Now, Paul is pleased to suffer for Christ. He saw fertile blessings in his suffering. You go to 1 Corinthians, 1 Corinthians, right from the beginning, chapter 1, verse 1. says, Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes, our brother, unto the church of God, which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, both theirs and ours. Grace be unto you, and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God always on your behalf." This is the worst church you could have, and he thanked God always on their behalf. for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ, that in everything ye are enriched by him, in all utterance and in all knowledge, even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, so that ye come behind in no gifts, waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Troy, that there are contentions among you. Paul had to deal with division and pride within the church. That's not gone away after 2,000 years. We still have that problem. Some thought that they were more empowered or more righteous because of who had won them the Christ. Today, the devil still seeks to divide the church. He uses all sorts of arguments, but they generally fall back on pride. The answer Paul gave to the divisions is still the answer today. 1 Corinthians 1 verse 12. Now look, I say, that every one of you sayeth, I am with Paul, and I have Apollos, and I have Cephas, and I have Christ. Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? So that no doubt about salvation is what are the Romans. We get down to Corinthians, he went on to the Romans, told them all about it. First he told them no one is good enough. So in Romans chapter 3, and in verse 10, Romans 3.10. This is basically a plan of salvation that Paul gave us. As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. In verse 23, he says, for all have sinned and come toward the glory of God. Then he told me there is a penalty for sin. Chapter 6, verse 23 starts, for the wages of sin is death. Just like the verse we have on the wall there, if Paul had stopped there, there would be no hope. He told the Romans, God provided hope. You guys can see it up here on the wall. It says, If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we have all men most miserable. But now is Christ risen from the dead and become the fresh fruits of them that slept. So we do have hope. If you go back to Romans 6.23, to read the rest of it, for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Jesus died on the cross and shed his perfect blood to pay for our salvation, and God told the Romans how to claim God's gift. Romans 10, verse 9, verse 10, 9. And as thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 10. wanted to believe that salvation was only for them. But Paul tells us that salvation is for everyone. Romans 10, 13, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. It didn't say for whatever Jews. He said for whosoever. Anybody can be saved. The Corinthians were told the same doctrine of salvation, but they wanted to believe that some had more privilege or more authority because of who had lent them to the Lord. And that doesn't work. We are all saved by Christ, and he is not divided, so there is no reason for division within the church then, and still no reason today. Our hope and our comfort is in God's Word, and not in ourselves. It's not us. It gives us to heaven. It's God who gives us heaven. It's Jesus' sacrifice on the cross. If you go to Psalms 119, Psalm 119, verse 49, says, Remember the way of unto thy servant, upon which thou hast caused me a hope. Verse 50, This is my comfort in my affliction, for thy word hath thickened me. Jesus warns his disciples that they would not have an easy or comfortable life. They have to endure affliction, and we have to too if we're going to follow him. But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name's sake." Matthew 16.24, then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. Verse 25, For whoso shall save his life shall lose it and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is the man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Or what shall man give in exchange for his soul? Our soul is the most important thing we have, and we can't do anything with it. It's not worth anything to us, so we give it to God. Now, I read those verses Very many times, I miss a real meaning. I just assign that to the cross represented our burdens. But David tells us to give our burdens to the Lord. In Psalms 55, 22, it says, cast thy burden upon the Lord and he shall sustain thee. He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved. A while back, I heard a preacher explain that the cross is an instrument of pain, suffering, and death. That's kind of obvious, isn't it? The light finally came off on me and I understood what Jesus is telling us when he tells us to bear a cross. He's telling us to bear our affliction. The pastor the other day said to bear our suffering, carry our suffering with us. Don't complain that life is rough. You're a Christian. Pick it up. Rejoice and glorify God. That's not an easy thing to do, but that's what he tells us to do. But if we want God to be glorified and want to see God work in our lives, we must accept our affliction and praise God through humble suffering. You can suffer, but you blame God for it. Joseph went from being a slave to being the second most powerful man in the world. One easy step. He just didn't blame God. Now, at the end of Job, in my Rock of Ages Bible here, there's a note at the end of Job chapter 42. So the question, why do we write to suffer, is answered here, at least in part. One way the Lord uses suffering is to correct and purify the righteous, not to punish them for sins. Job was godly and possessed a wonderful faith that even his afflictions could not shake. But he was not humble enough and was inclined to be a self-righteous. When brought into the presence of God, he realized his sinfulness and judged himself, and this opened doors to restored happiness and greater fruitfulness. Christians often have the same problem, which is solved in the same way. Hebrews 12.7, and further on, it says, If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons. For what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not? We've all been chastened by our fathers, straightened out, and God does that too. But if ye be without judgment, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards and not sons. If you're not legitimate, if your father doesn't straighten you out, you're not a real son. Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence. Shall we not much rather be in subjection under the father of spirits and live? For they there only for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure, but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seems to be joyous, we started with that, but grievous. Nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby." So when we get past chastening, we get the reward. If you go to 1 Corinthians 11, verse 31, we deal with this. It says, for if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. If we judge ourselves first, God doesn't have to judge us. Look at ourselves and be honest, and God doesn't have to deal with us like that. But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord that we should not be condemned with the world. The Rock of Ages Bible has a note here also. If we should judge ourselves, this means that if Christians would examine themselves and confess their sins before God, the sins would be forgiven and forgotten, and the sinner would escape the judgments of verse 30. 1 Corinthians 11.30 is, For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. Many of the afflictions in our lives are means God uses to bless us. Almost 20 years ago, I worked at the Smith Clinic, and I started from my job. I worked there for 20 years already. I started as an intern, I became a pharmacist, and finally became the director of the pharmacy. The business constantly improved because God blessed it. He blessed it in large part just because I was there. I was fired because of the people I hired, trained, protected, rewarded. I went to my boss and convinced him to fire me. I was bitter about that for a long time. Made me mad, made me bitter. With all this dealing with all this stuff in Arizona, I realized God wanted me in Arizona. So even then, God was working in my life. It took a long time before I got to Arizona, a long time before this happened. But God was dealing with me then. So, I still have a hard time with my friends betraying me and working for the devil. But I accept the fact that God used them, or allowed them to be used. And that God's purpose was fulfilled. Even at that time, after I'd been fired, I immediately had a better job with better pay and fewer responsibilities. I couldn't see that as a blessing because I was concentrating on my affliction. We don't see them because we're looking at our afflictions. We receive many blessings many times. We fail to notice. We don't look at our afflictions. Sometimes our day is much more pleasant just because someone blesses us with a kindness and we don't see it because we take it for granted. When we suffer affliction, that's all we often see. We don't notice the blessing it has given us. It might be if I got a better job. I didn't notice that because I was When I first got to Arizona, that was four years ago, I couldn't see the many blessings God had given me. At that time, I had the best job I ever had. I had the best boss I ever had. He gave me a good church. I had a driveway to get there. I was full of good friends. I wasn't afraid to go anywhere. All I could see was that I was afflicted because half a carton of the way from my family, my church, is where I wanted to be. Before I left there, I had three churches. Not that I was church-hopping. It was just a geographical thing. I had to go one to the other on different days at different times. I had three good churches to go to. My kids are having trouble finding one good church to go to. Out in California, different places. It's hard to find a church. God gave me three of them. I finally accepted blessings I had, I still wanted to be with my wife and my family. So God heard my unending prayers, and he blessed me with life-threatening brain infection, and I ended up back here with my wife, and close to my kids. A blessing that's often easy to overlook is that God has glorified my affliction and my recovery. Literally everybody knows That God worked a miracle in my life to get me here. It is a tremendous blessing. I see that God has used me as an instrument to bring praise and glory to Him. So, I have been blessed by being used by God. In a way, I could have done some of that stuff myself if I had witnessed where I should have and everything. I could have done that myself, but God used me anyway. I've been blessed. I'm going to leave you with this. You want to look at your own life. Are you better over a blessing God has given you? I was. Many of the tribulations in our lives have brought us blessings that we often didn't notice. Think carefully back. Yield God praise and thanks for some of the blessings that he gave you for a fortune. If you do, it's a good time to speak to him and thank him for it. Alright, so we're just going to stick it over here.