Today’s Word: Faith to Face Suffering
Today I’m going to preach what no preacher who has faith likes to preach! Even if you have great faith, you are still going to suffer! I want to read Hebrews chapter 11 , the same chapter that talk about The Power of Faith but now I want to read the last verses that talks about faith that most of us like to skip…
“Women received their dead raised to life again. Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented— of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth. And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise,” Hebrews 11:35-39 NKJV
I love talking about faith, I’ve experienced so many miracles through faith! And I’m even thinking about writing a book about how God has led us in such miraculous ways.
Today I want to share about trials, struggles and tribulation. We need to learn how to deal with certain disappointments we experience in life. Many people lose their faith when they go to trials.
We love to celebrate the good things that God does but many churches don’t talk about the times when things don’t work out and we need to learn how to deal with it.
I have seen people being healed of cancer and we believe it can happen, we pray for it. In 2016 however, we received a missionary in this church who made us all so happy. We were so thankful for having her here, helping us and preaching the gospel in Ireland. But unfortunately, 3 years after her arrival, she passed away from cancer. Deep in my heart I was in pain and had many questions in my mind. Many people asked why, where was God when this happened? I then I had to hold the funeral service… It was very hard for me and for us all.
How can you process such loss? How do you make sense of it? How do you explain? Well, you don’t ! It may seem easier to blame things : God , demons ,human errors , the food you eat , sometimes demonic attacks…
When I was born again I learned that when we don’t understand something, we trust God in spite of it. We don’t try to make sense of it because you can’t make sense of everything. There are things in life that just don’t make sense.
Also the Bible says : “He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” Matthew 5:45
There are many things we cannot make sense of in this world, because bones will break , car accidents will happen, bad things will happen, your child will hurt and we have to be honest, life is sometimes very hard.
There are seasons we walk through The Valley of shadow of death (Psalm 23:4)
There are seasons we all go through tribulation!
“In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.””John 16:33 NKJV
But Jesus said I have overcome the world.
Today I’m not here to give explanations on why certain things happen. What I want is to learn how to walk through some of those moments in our lives when you lose your ground. When you have to face sickness, to deal with a family problem , to live through the abandonment of your partner, to deal with your parents’ passing away, to go through an accident or one day wake up to losing your job, or losing your best friend.
I myself lost many friends from Covid, they were men and women of God and they passed away very suddenly and it all seems so unfair, so not right! Where is God in all this?
First I need to say I’m a human being and I don’t have all the answers, I also have questions just as everybody else. Just because I’m a pastor it doesn’t mean I don’t feel things like everyone else, just because I’m a believer it doesn’t mean I don’t have difficulty seasons.
Also because you are in church and you have the Holy Spirit it doesn’t mean that you can avoid all hard times.
Today you are receiving a great teaching from the Word of God, because we need to understand not just to celebrate our victories but to walk through certain situation without our faith being crushed.
How do you make sense of all of it, how do you rationalise it?
It can be hard to understand people but it is even harder to try to understand God’s ways with our limited understanding.
Why? Because He is different!
He is God and you are human.
He’s infinite and you are finite!
He’s omnipresent and you are stuck to the present time.
He’s ways are higher than yours, His thoughts are higher than yours, He is God and you and I are not.
You may be able to understand another human being.
But Hebrews 11:6 says that it is impossible to please God without Faith, you cannot do it with your rational mind.
God says: I’m in a such different place , I’m in a such different dimension, I have no beginning and I have no end. I live in eternity, I’m eternal , I was never made , I was never created and you cannot deal with Me with your understanding but with Trust !
He who comes to God must believe that He is God and He is the rewarder of those who seek Him! (Hebrews 11:6)
The question is: How do you live your life and make senses of things, how do you go through things that does not fit your understanding ?
The answer is in Hebrews 11:3
“By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.” Hebrews 11:3 NKJV
Our starting point as Christians is not understanding but our trust!
You cannot deal with God based on your understanding!
God said: My ways are higher than yours, my thoughts are higher than yours.
We as human being we live by formula: 1 + 2 = 3, the problem is : God doesn’t work by any formula, He works by Faith.
There are things formulas do not apply, there are things that seem to be one way and then they do not work out.
If we don’t start from the point of “Faith” our understanding will became our God.
Hebrews 11:3 says : By Faith We Understand!
That means the starting point for understanding is not “understanding”, it’s trusting in God.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding;” Proverbs 3:5 NKJV
God is saying: Trust me in The Valley, trust me in the furnace, trust me in your healing , trust me in your sickness, trust me in your prosperity, trust me in your poverty, trust when your kids are healthy and trust me when your kids are sick.
Trust me, says the Lord! God said: Trust in me!
Why do some people of Faith pass away? Why did my friend pastor Uecio from Uberlândia passed away from Covid? Why do you suffer? Why did my Dad pass away at such a young age? Why do these things happen? There is no answer to why! Your understanding has to go back to the point of trust ! By Faith We Understand!
If you try to understand by your understanding you will go to a dark place, you will get disappointed, you will get so discouraged, it’ll drive you to alcohol, it will lead you into depression, it will take you to unbelief , it will drive you to madness!
If you don’t have faith you are as good as blind! The only way to start seeing is to have Faith! Otherwise you will become bitter and it will leave you in darkness!
Because when you lose faith you lose sight! When you lose faith your mind is not in light but in the darkness.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding;” Proverbs 3:5
If you do not trust in the Lord you are trusting in your understanding! You need to allow your understanding to be enlightened by the scripture today!
Why have we suffering in the world?
1- Sin brought suffering.
2- God used suffering to bring salvation.
3- In the end , God will end all suffering! All death , all pain , all rejection, all abuse. He will take away the dark by removing the night ! It will always be day! The sun will never go down and will never rise again because He will be the source of light.
He will give us resurrected bodies and you will never ever get sick again. You will never feel weak again, he will give you a brand new body.
4- God in this present age uses suffering to refine and purify us. He will use suffering to show His Glory.
- We need to enlighten our understanding with the Word of God. And we need faith to understand all suffering.
- We see in the Bible Jesus raising Lazarus from death after four days!
- But also we see a man of God Called John the Baptist being beheaded by an evil woman.
- Jesus raises His friend from death but His cousin is beheaded. How can you make sense of it?
- We see Apostle Peter being set free from prison by an Angel.
- Also we see Apostle James, John’s brother being killed by king Herod.
- A few years ago, I was going to Dublin airport to pick up Pastor Humberto from I stopped at the Texaco gas station, I put petrol in my car, when I left the gas station, I looked up (left) and there was no car, I looked down (right) and there was no car coming . So I accelerated and to go into the road but when I got in the middle of the road my car braked by itself, and a car rushed past in front of me at very high speed. I was accelerating and my car stopped without my foot being on the brake pedal. If my car had not stopped I’d be dead!
- I love an American pastor, David Wilkerson, he was a famous preacher, who wrote the well-known book: The Cross and the switchblade, a man of God filled with the Holy Spirit. He was killed in head-on car crash, he crashed his car in a trailer tractor and he was 79.
How you understand? How you explain?
The Bible reveals to us from the beginning that God never created death, He never created suffering and He never created sickness, He never created mental illness, He never created accidents , He never created disappointing.
He created the World perfectly. But sin entered and through sin came death. Then God came in!
How do I know that He loves me? Because He did not let sin run it’s final curse.
For God so loved the World! See that God love for you is not whether He answers your prayers or not.
Because some people say: If God loves me why did He allow my parents to die? If God loves me why is my child ill? If God loves me why did he allow me to go through this much pain? If God loves me why He didn’t stop the abuser? If God loves me why did my parents get divorced?
The proof of God’s love is not your blessings!
The proof of God’s love is that He gave His only begotten Son !
The greatest thing, the most important thing that proves God’s love for you is that He died for you. He died for your eternal salvation, He died for you to be forgiven, He died for you to be justified, He died for you to be redeemed, He died for you not go to hell , He died for you to be saved ! He died for you to be in His family!
That’s the proof that He loves you!
When you go through the valley of death He does not stop loving you!
When you are faced with the death of a loving one, He does not stop loving you!
When you are unemployed, He does not stop loving you!
When you are suffering, He does not stop loving you!
Because the Cross still remains! He never stopped loving you!
To deal with disappointments we need to deal with some myths first (things that’s not true)
“God will take away all my present sufferings!” This is a myth! This is a lie !
John 16:33 – in this world you will have tribulations!
That’s a promise! Jesus keep His promise : You will have tribulation.
“In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,”
2 Timothy 3:12 NIV
There will be suffering. People will suffer for following Christ. Sometimes suffering begins as soon as you give your life to Jesus. You suffer rejection, suffer being misunderstood, being mocked and some are even killed for their faith.
The Bible says that Jesus is a man of suffering (Isaiah 53:3)
Through His suffering He redeemed the World!
When He invite us to follow Him, He doesn’t invite us to pleasure, He invite us to denial!
He invites us to take up the cross! The symbol of Christianity is not a “beach” or a sea of roses, it’s a Cross!
You are here today in church because of the blood of the apostles and many missionaries, pastors that gave their lives preaching the Gospel.
But because of small suffering, because of disappointments in Church many people abandon their faith and their church.
I believe in miracles, God will take away your loneliness, He will deliver you from demons, He will heal your heart, He will fill your mind with peace! But please understand that : This World is not a paradise yet.
Hebrews 11:35-39 Says : They had great Faith and they suffered and they died because of their Faith!
The Bible doesn’t give us the reason why they were homeless, the reason some of them were cut in the half, the reason some of them were beheaded.
Some people have enough faith to live through troubles, some people have enough faith to endure them.
Some people have faith to deliver them from death others have faith to help them to die victoriously.
Paul said that Timothy as a good soldier endures suffering.
“You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.” II Timothy 2:3 NKJV
I want to encourage you, to always pray, always have faith for the miracle, always pray against suffering, but don’t trust on your own understanding !
Faith is to trust God in every circumstances, when we don’t understand something, we trust God in spite of it.
May the Lord bless and keep you !